Posts Tagged ‘future’

365great Day 142: future plans

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Learn more about 365great here.

365great challenge day 142: future plansAh, the anticipation of what’s to come! It gives you something to dream about, to hope for, and to think about. One of the main things on my mind these days is that ever-enticing move-in date, when Panda and I will have our brand new condo to call home! Here I took a picture of some construction plans for the site, which has yet to be built but today I saw they started the initial stages of laying the foundation; so exciting!! When you make plans, it gives you something to make decisions around and it often triggers tasks you can do, like buying or selling things, arranging and rearranging your schedule, and perhaps preparing to usher out the old to make way for the new. Sometimes it’s just another part of your day, but sometimes it’s a life-changing event. Whatever the case, our ability to think to the future and run scenarios in our imaginations is a pretty unique skill. So here’s to the future! Let’s make it great.

The hunt is on

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Man, job hunting this time around is quite challenging! It’s a combination of finding a company in a reasonably close location, looking for a position that’s not quite first job entry-level but isn’t exactly management, and trying to meet my desired price point. Now that Panda and I know where we’ll be located, I’ve had to shift my job search further west out of DC. I’d really rather not commute an hour to hour and a half each way – 30-45 minutes would be ideal. I also want something where I don’t have to start over again, but can pick up in a similar place to where I was when I left my previous job. This is difficult to find because I plan on moving into a different industry and some of the industry-specific skills they require are not part of my skill set. At the same time, I want a salary similar to if not slightly higher than what I had been paid

Adding to those criteria is my desire to work at company that either has immense opportunity to grow or has a cool, laidback work culture. Of course having both would be amazing, but I’d be happy with one or the other. A lot of companies in the region require highly technical skills – a good 75% of listings I’ve seen are for engineers, programmers, and the like. What about someone like me who is tech-savvy despite not having a technical degree? I wish there were more options out there. It seems like I find a ton of very basic administrative assistant type roles or far too complex engineering project management roles. How do I find something in between?!

I’ve definitely come across some promising leads, but boy are they competitive! I’ve gotten a few rejections and I’m still waiting to hear back on some others. I wish it was easier to find the sort of tech companies that I’m interested in, but most of the tech companies out here exist to service government needs and that sort of thing gets highly technical. I’m not in the best location for the type of work I’d like to do, which is really limiting my choices. I originally started looking for positions with opportunities to travel, but now I’ve thrown that out and will just count myself lucky if I do find a position offering that.

And the hunt goes on…

If money was no object

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At the Gogobot 500 Days of Summer event, I was chatting with a friend (who also happens to be my great great greatx8 grand lil bro – yeah, random) when she asked me what I would do if I didn’t have to make money. This was in the context of what job/career you’d go for if you could do it just for fun. Of course there is plenty of non-work stuff you can do if you had all the money in the world, but that’s a discussion for another time!

My answer? I’d run a cat shelter. A no-kill one, of course (except maybe in the case of a really sick feline).

small cat climbing cage doorYeah, that was not what she was expecting! She was thinking more along the lines of a singer or something… but I stand by my choice! If I didn’t have to worry about money I would focus my energy on creating a safe environment for a ton of cats. I’d try to adopt them out to good families as much as possible, but I would keep them their entire lives if they never got a chance to leave. I’d keep them in a large house with just a few cages for special purposes, but generally they’d be free to roam through the rooms as they pleased. This would help them socialize with each other and get used to moving around a home with people coming in and out too. I’d want to have space for people to stay overnight too, whether it was staffers or prospective pet parents (though that could get complicated). After all, the best way for people to find the cat they want is to see them in as similar a habitat as they’d have once they take them home.

I guess my goals have always been a bit different. When I was a kid, I didn’t dream of being famous or being some high-powered attorney/judge/doctor/CEO. No, one of the jobs I really liked was being a school bus driver. Why? So I could give treats to the kids and brighten their day. That might have worked back in the day, but nowadays I don’t think it would fly. I mean, would you let your kid take candy from the bus driver? Maybe not. I wanted to be an elementary school teacher for similar reasons. I will always remember Mrs. Stewie, who had a magical drawer of candy that she’d open up once a month and let us “buy” candy from. We got money stamped onto homework and tests that we did well on, which we collected to use for “purchasing” treats from her.

If you could have any job in the world, without worrying about income, what would you want to do?

On My Mind, episode 6

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Linking up with Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for “Thursday Thoughts” aka On My Mind.

a~ I can’t believe this is my 6th one already! Where did the time go? I’ve been bumming around lately because I’m hoping my first choice in future employment pans out and I’m not that motivated to apply for other jobs just yet, plus I haven’t watched my shows since early February so I’m catching up now that all the seasons seem to be ending. I’m slowly transitioning back to working more and resting less.

b~ On the box front, I have a lot going on! I got into the Influenster Spring Voxbox (yay!) and hopefully I qualify for the summer one as well. I sprang for the May Ipsy bag and while I liked the overall value and items in the bag, I’m looking to trade two items. I’m going to cancel the subscription and wait for June spoilers before deciding if I want to get it again. I got that free Bulu box that I mentioned and I’ve suspended my subscription for now. I liked the box but I didn’t love it, so I’m reluctant to spend money on it when they’re more on the healthy scale than I’m interested in. I also received my first Conscious Box and it was packed full of goodness! Gonna take me some time to get through everything. And finally, I got Panda to get me a Treatsie box subscription because I’m a sucker for treats. Call it a very early birthday present.

c~ Every now and then I get my contacts out of place in my eye and it hurts for a bit, but then I get it back in place. Awhile back, my contact kept creating discomfort in my eye so I took it out and put it back in after washing it down with solution. Still, it didn’t feel right and the next time I took it out I discovered this:

torn/ripped contact lens

Torn contact lens. Ouch!

d~ It has been many long months since I heard from BzzAgent and I was pretty sad they weren’t including me in campaigns even though my BzzScore is pretty high. Then FINALLY I got an email from them and I am IN for the Dr. Scholl’s massaging gel insoles! Pretty excited about that since I’ve always wanted to try them but kind of never got around to figuring out which one I should get. I’m going to put them to the test on my next vacation, where I expect a whole lot of walking. My feet always hurt after standing all day and a massaging gel sounds amazing.

small brown stone owl sculpture and owl face watch

Some of the owl things I’ve gotten.


e~ Is it just me or are owls cute on/as almost any product? I mean, I love them as jewelry and decorations and sculptures and designs and even oil warmers. Something about their round, pudgy bodies and those giant eyes melt my heart. If I could find an owl bag, owl blanket, or gosh even an owl metronome, I’d probably get it. I was pretty tempted to get a felt iPad case made to look like an owl, but I don’t use cases for my iPad so I resisted. I’m that much more likely to get something if there’s an owl involved! I feel similarly about pandas and cats.

f~ I’ve made it a habit of keeping a lot of my skincare and beauty products upside-down lately. Everything from toners to shampoo to nail polish. A lot of these products tend to settle and I don’t like having to shake them up each time, so by keeping them on their heads, I don’t usually have to shake them. And for very thick things like lotion, I don’t have to struggle (as much) to get it to come out. I wonder if they have some sort of adjustable rack that I can use for this purpose?

g~ I’m obsessed with marinated mushrooms!! It was about 10 years ago that Costco stopped carrying the ones they had in their stores and I’ve been checking the pickled goods aisle ever since. In the years since, I managed to find them in the salad bar at Ralph’s a couple times, but it is very expensive to buy them by the salad bar’s weight pricing! Then I happened upon a new brand at Costco out east when I was visiting Panda a few months ago and I was joyous. I took home two jars that day and devoured them. We got some more jars and I happy ate them until I had to come back to SoCal. Unfortunately my local Costco does not carry it. I then had Panda bring me more when he came to visit. A few weeks ago he reported that there were only two more boxes of it left in the store, so I had him help me buy an entire box (8 jars). Gotta stock up in case Costco stops selling them! Yes, I am that in love with these suckers.

h~ When I got a bar of Mrs. Meyers soap in my Yuzen box many months ago, I was pretty excited to try this brand I’d been curious about. Once I started using the soap I found that the smell was too clean for my taste. I was sad and put it aside while trying to figure out what to do with it. Then I had to do some cleaning and I decided to use that soap since it was handy and seemed to cut through grease really well. I’m glad I did! For some reason, using it to clean with is perfectly fine, but using it to wash myself with feels weird. Maybe it’s a psychological thing? I associate that refreshing smell with cleaning but what I use on my body I want to feel more like I’m beautifying. Totally random, but just goes to show that you may not like something for certain reasons at first, but those very reasons can make it great for something else.

What are your random thoughts these days?

Sunday Social: past & future

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Sunday Social 
I really like the prompts for yesterday’s Sunday Social so I thought I’d join in! I saw them when catching up on Ramblings of a Suburban Mom and hey, better late than never, right?

1 year ago I was doing…
A bit of relaxing and enjoying life. I had just quit my job, was trying to find my way in the world of self-employment, but took a break to go back to China and attend my cousin’s wedding. Not long after, I had a grand vacation with Panda (our first time flying together!) in Hawaii before figuring out what to do with my entrepreneurial endeavors. I started by launching DeckMyPhone.com and later created PandaLoves.com. On the blogging front things were still tootin’ along as they have been since 2009, when I decided to do more “for the public” blogging. Prior to that, my blog was really more of an online journal/diary.

5 years ago I was doing…
Training for UCLA Orientation. I had not yet met Panda (wow, can’t believe I’ve only known him for less than 5 years when it feels like ages). I still had a month left before the quarter ended and I walked for graduation. It would be 6 more months before I finished up my classes since I took an extra quarter. Over the summer, I met Panda and we began our little romance, which has been tough but rewarding! I also went back to China at the end of this summer, getting a chance to check out the Paralymics in Beijing and visit relatives.

10 years ago I was doing…
A whole lot of adjusting and trying to grapple with living in California. I had just moved from New York the year before, was finishing up my junior year at my new high school, and still kind of hated LA. The weather was too dry (my skin hurt), I was still bitter that I had been torn away from my old high school and friends with little notice (we moved within 2 weeks of me finding out), I missed NJROTC (had to transfer to an AFJROTC unit since there was no Navy one nearby), and I didn’t like having to choose between track or swimming (they’re the same season in CA but not NY). Yeah, I was probably a bit of an angsty teenager. Oh, and I had just started to hear of this college called UCLA, which hadn’t been on my radar before.

1 year from now I’ll be doing…
Some sort of steady work. I’ve decided to get back into the “normal” workforce so I certainly hope I’d have a job by then! I’d love to continue my blogging and eBay sales on the side and hopefully will get my blog above the 1 mil Alexa rank threshold. I started off around 7.4 mil just over 2 weeks ago, when I decided I wanted to bring up my rank. As of now, I’m at 4.1 mil and I’m sure it will only get harder to move up but I’m confident that I can make it into the 6-digits range. Panda and I will be engaged, but I do not expect to be doing any wedding planning yet. We’ll both be living and working together (finally!) and building a nice little home life together before the craziness of kids.

5 years from now I’ll be doing…
The motherhood thing. I’ll probably have had my first child, if not a second as well (assuming there are no fertility issues). I’m sure Panda and I will both have our hands full. By this point we should have been married for a few years (whew, thank goodness! I will be glad when the wedding is over). I have no clue on the work front what I might be doing – maybe I love my career and keep it up, or maybe I decide I’d rather stay home. My ability to make money from home could help decide, or maybe Panda will decide he wants to be a stay at home dad. If we’re both working, our parents might come help watch the kids at times. I expect to have my cat Missy as part of our household too. Molly’s old so I don’t know if she’ll still be around, plus she loves my mom so maybe she’ll stay at my parents’ place.

10 years from now I’ll be doing…
Yikes, this one is the toughest one. I really can’t imagine what life will be like in 10 years. Ideally, Panda and I will both be working in careers that challenge and excite us. We’ll have a beautiful home with all kinds of personal touches we added over the years. We’ll probably have two little kids who are just starting the education journey and dreaming of their lives as adults. We’ll have a comfortable life filled with family activities and vacations and probably a terabyte of pictures stored away. I’d love to be getting a variety of subscription boxes so I can have a ton of mini projects to do, ranging from crafts with the kids to cooking with Panda. I’m sure I’ll still have way too many skincare items but a hopeless addiction to trying new ones nonetheless. I might still be trying to use up any single bottle of nail polish. I think I’ll still be blogging and trying to win stuff and selling on eBay on the side. We’ll see!

One day, someday

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I’ve come to a realization. This whole time I thought being an entrepreneur working on my own schedule was the most important thing to me. While I do cherish the ability to work from home as I please and enjoy the atmosphere and weather here, it’s not enough. Or, more accurately, it’s not the most important thing for me right now.

For the past couple of years, I’ve had to say “we’ll do this someday” or “in the future let’s get that” or “we can go there one day” when referring to anything I wanted to do with Panda. Most things have to be put off – we’re just not at that stage in life yet. Then, recently I came across all these bloggers who are married and have this great home life. The kind of life that I want. And you know, it’s hard to sit here and wait for that future day to come, when Panda and I can finally live together. I’m ready for that stage.

ironing board being used as desk

Case in point: an ironing board shouldn’t have to double as a desk. I want a more permanent solution.


So really, while my work freedom is something I would love to hold on to, I see now that emotionally what I need is not that. First and foremost my heart desires to live with Panda, so we can start to do all those things “for the future.” I want to have a home I can make my own, whether it’s how things are organized within it or how it is decorated and furnished. In addition to that, I need more socialization. Working on my own is lonely and I always knew I’d want a business partner, but that didn’t work out. After a year of plowing ahead, I’ve learned that I was right: I’d work so much better with a team.

I’m so glad that my parents have been unconditionally supportive of my efforts. They gave me the time and space to figure this out for myself. In my stubbornness, I probably would have jumped off the deep end if they pushed me to stick with a “9 to 5” job. Ran off to some remote place to start some obscure small business or something. Instead, they let me sit around at home, evaluating what I was doing, altering my direction as I learned, and that is what has led me to this point. Entrepreneurship may be for me, in a future setting, but right now it’s not what I need.

What I need is a happy (pseudo-married) home life. I’m in no rush to get married, but I do want to build a home life with Panda. So far I’ve only stayed with him sporadically and never felt like I could make the place “ours.” I guess you could say I’m in the mood to be nesting? At least in terms of getting furnishings and developing lifestyle patterns together. And on the work front, I need coworkers and a team more than I need the freedom to work from home or work odd hours. I’m ready to re-enter the workforce.

It’s time for “one day” and “someday” to become a reality. I don’t want to put it off anymore, so I’m dusting off my resume, revamping it, and going on the job hunt.

Languishing

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I’ve been in and out of a funk lately. For a time, I was focusing on a new project, but ever since I got back to the West Coast I haven’t really been able to concentrate on it. Instead, I found myself getting into my blogging again, with a big bout of inspiration. Also, I picked up a hobby obsession with entering (and winning!) sweepstakes/giveaways. Oh, and I’ve started to carve out a little piece of the reviewing world for myself, getting some products for free in exchange for feedback for those brands/companies.

sitting on front porch with legs extended working on laptop

Why wouldn’t I want to work on my front porch?


While all this is good and well, it’s not exactly a career unless I get a mad following or something. I’ve been working on promoting my blog more and I’ve seen improvement, but still, it’s tough to make a good living as a blogger and few people can rely on it solely. I’m enjoying myself and doing what I like, but I can’t help but feel that others are judging me for my lack of career at this point. It makes me wonder if I should be more eager to get back into the work force and earn a more steady income.

I’m a stubborn one, so the more people try to push me towards “normalcy” the more I want to buck against it. But I do see the benefits – I mean, I don’t want to have financial difficulties in my life. I’ve been fortunate to never have been in debt or had anything I couldn’t pay back and I never plan on experiencing that. Perhaps it’s unfair to assume the “housewife” role and stay at home doing what I can online as Panda goes out to work each day.

sitting under cabana working photo edited rainbow filter

Enjoying the weather while working? Certainly!


Still, I can’t help but wonder why I need to join all those Americans who work too hard, stress themselves out, and don’t even have fun along the way. What’s the point of earning a ton of money if you’re risking your health and happiness? Why is it that career success is often seen as more important than personal success (like within the home)? Perhaps that’s what’s wrong with this society. There’s so much glamour in earning a big paycheck, driving a fancy car, owning a large home, and otherwise living the “high life.”

Meanwhile, the quality of life and your personal well-being is completely ignored. Is a crazy high income worth never being home? Is a super busy schedule worth the shortcuts you take for your health? Maybe I’ve been taking it easy for too long (a year), but I sure do enjoy this ability to sleep in or stay up as I feel and manage my time freely. Are you only “good enough” if you’re sleep-deprived, too busy for socializing or relaxing, and soaring in your career? It sure seems that way, what with people bragging about how crazy their lives are.

lounging by pool in cabana with view of harbor

Should I feel guilty I get to work like this?


It’s sad really, that I almost feel ashamed that I’m not overworked. In fact, it’s just guilt that maybe I’m not being ambitious enough with my earning potential that is causing me this stress right now. I’m perfectly happy otherwise – I get time with family, I get work done, I get rest, and I am pretty well-balanced with the areas of my life. But I bet there are those who would look down on me and my situation and think that they’re better off because they have a nice paycheck. It’s not that I don’t want to earn money – I’ve just seen how big the trade-off is and I’m no longer sure that all that insanity is worth it.

I’ll probably still end up getting into the grind, working at that rat race that never seems to end. Yes, even entrepreneurs who don’t enter the traditional rat race find themselves in one of their own. Anybody with a job in the US isn’t truly immune to the intense competition, no matter what your industry or role. All because our society has developed in such a way that we aren’t deemed “successful” otherwise. And gosh darn it, I’m not about to disappoint my family. If they see failure in no high-power career, then I guess I’ll try to build that nice little career. But I’ll probably still languish around from time to time since I can’t quite say that it’s what I truly want. However, I don’t want to be dead weight and/or a burden either. So I guess it’s time to suck it up and get back in touch with my work-related ambitions.

Positive change

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So far 2013 has been off to a strong start.  My overarching goal is to focus more.  That means fewer distractions that waste my time (like watching shows and playing games) and more effort towards making my dreams a reality.  To start with, I’ve been working on cutting out the useless parts of my life that have slowly taken over much of my time in the past couple of months.  I’m working on getting up every day at a regular time, getting some work and cleaning done, and eating and showering “on time” (kinda).

While it’s only been three days (what?!), I’m doing well; I’ve been productive each day and tidied up the house bit by bit.  I’ve gotten some work done for my websites and/or eBay each day whereas in previous weeks I probably would have put it off to another day.  Now when I think of something, I get to it right away, before I lose motivation or forget about it.  The same thing goes with household chores – instead of leaving things lying around, I’m picking them up, putting them away, and organizing as needed.

So far I’m feeling good about my motivation levels, which I was definitely struggling with more recently.  As I start to get used to this new, more healthy routine, I’m going to add more demanding goals, like really buckling down to decide what direction I want my professional development to go.  Part of this effort will involve reading some books for ideas and inspiration.  I had started to do that when I first left my job last year, but then it dwindled.  I think if I learn about how others made it work, I’ll feel better about my own prospects.  After all, every day we see successful businesses around us – why can’t one of those be run by me?

Celebrations & challenges

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Oh, 2012. It’s been quite a year.  There were a lot of highs and lows, ranging from glorious celebrations of love to frustrating work-related challenges.  The year started off normally, then started to dip as I didn’t find enough growth in my career.  So, I decided to quit my job and pursue my entrepreneurial dreams.  I then got a chance to attend my first wedding as an adult, watching my cousin get married in a lovely event.  From there, I began to work on my own ventures, with great highs of productivity and excitement and great lows of little motivation and progress.  What this new lifestyle did afford me was a lot of self-reflection, personal growth, and time with Panda.  What it hasn’t afforded me (yet) was the satisfaction of succeeding by “normal” measures.

It’s definitely been challenging and there seems to be a bit of an inverse relation between quality family time and substantial career growth.  While it’s been a strong year for family, it’s been a weak one for work.  I mean, we all know it’s hard to balance the demands of home and work, but I know it can be a better balance than I’ve managed thus far.  I’ve enjoyed and appreciated the time I get to have with my parents when they’re in town, with Panda when we’re together, and with my cousin who has come to study in the US.  However, I constantly feel judged for the lack of a job that I have and my whole “self-employed” status.  Granted, I haven’t been as motivated and hard-working as I could, but there’s a lot I did do that nobody really knows about.

I’m struggling a bit right now to find my way and figure out where to focus my efforts.  My eBay endeavors have reached a plateau and it doesn’t require as much upkeep anymore, so I need to decide what my next thing will be.  I did just get contacted by someone with an opportunity that could potentially lead to something rewarding, so we’ll see how that pans out.  In the mean time, I’ve been doing some work for Yuzen and should probably put some more time into that.  Now that it’s the end of the year and the holiday season is in full swing, I’m finding it hard to really plan too much more work for the rest of the year.  Between travel plans and birthday/holiday celebrations, I’ll probably be pretty busy.  That doesn’t mean I won’t be thinking and strategizing about the future the whole time!

Shipping headaches

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: , , , ,
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Written a week ago:

I had a down day today. Managing this whole eBay thing has started to wear on me as I move past the honeymoon phase and learn some of the not-so-pleasant aspects of being a seller. It started off great – listing and selling items was exciting and mailing out packages was fun. But now that I’ve sent out dozens of items, I find it increasingly challenging to manage inventory, get the right shipping products (particularly appropriate box sizes), and find a good balance between price and shipping speed/service.

Mostly it has to do with shipping woes. For the second time now, someone has contacted me saying they have not received their item after waiting nearly a month. In cases like this, I am so powerless yet I feel responsible. I want to help but should I have to replace or refund an item every time the post office or customs screws me over? While I appreciate the low prices I get with USPS, I feel like there’s no accountability for when items are lost, damaged, or stolen. I have no recourse and it is disheartening.

In a similar vein, I have no idea what customs offices might be doing with my shipments… are they holding them? Did they never receive them? Will my customer get their package soon, or at all? It’s so frustrating to not know and not be able to provide any comfort to the recipient patiently waiting for the delivery.  Additionally, I constantly worry about how much abuse my packages will suffer after finding out some of my items were crushed in transit.  How do I ensure that the items are well-protected yet don’t add so much weight to the packaging that shipping costs go up?  It’s a fine line to walk.

Now, with some time to think:

All of this has led me to an old idea I had a long time ago – wouldn’t it be nice to “rent” space in a suitcase or car that will be traveling from somewhere near you to a destination close to the one you want?  People are constantly covering so much ground and not taking advantage of all the space they have to bring things with them.  If we could tap into a network where travelers can offer up the extra space they have and shippers/mailers can then pay for that space, wouldn’t that be a great way to take advantage of the travel that’s already being done?  With the rise of community marketplaces, this seems more and more a sensible reality for the future.  If I can trust the listings on Airbnb, I can certainly find a way to create a similar level of trust for listings involving assisted shipping.

Granted, there are plenty of challenges to consider, especially when it comes to international shipping, but this is a problem I’d really like to help solve.  I can just imagine the powerful community that can be created around this, and with it a built-in level of service unlike that of many shipping services.  After all, each person signing up to help deliver items wants to maintain a pristine reputation or else they won’t get more opportunities to earn money.  We’d need to integrate some technologies to assist them in the tracking process, among other things, but I wonder if overall it’d be worth all the effort.  Would I really be able to drive down the price, yet provide optimal service?  I’d sure like to try.

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