...Hi!
Sorry I fell off the face of the earth for a while there. As there's too much to catch up on in one sitting I'm just going to give y'all the abbreviated version of what's been going on. More info behind the cuts:
Japan:
Finished my contract, packed up my stuff, went on an awesome two week trip around central and southern Japan with my friend Jennie, said goodbye to a lot of awesome people, and came home.
CA Readjustment Period:
Readjusting wasn't awful, thankfully. The first 3-4 weeks was spent getting the essentials in order (cell phone, car, etc) and traveling around visiting family and friends I hadn't seen much of in the last two years. Also got to visit NY for the first time - four days of walking around, seeing the sights - it was fun though it probably would've been cooler if I'd had company.
Job Hunt:
It took approximately two months to land a job. I must say that unemployment is the worst job in the world. Unemployment is working full time to find a job that will actually pay you to work. I feel incredibly lucky that I only had to do it for two months. As for the job I got? Well, it certainly wasn't what I was expecting to get. To illustrate my point, here's my previous job history: University Library Stacks Asst. - 4+ years, Law Firm File Clerk - 1 year, Asst. Language Teacher in Japan - 2 years. Now? I am presently employed as an Estimating Admin. Asst. for a General Contracting firm in SF specializing in high end residential projects. As of this week, I've been informed that they'd like to start training me as a Jr. Estimator as well and I may even learn to be the back up for one of our business development people sometime down the road. Holy cow. I can't express how happy I am to work for a company that WANTS to teach me things!!! Lots of things! I get the feeling I'll be sticking around for a while. ^_^
India:
I went to India for just over two weeks from the end of November to mid December with Shivam, his mom, and his brother. We met up with his Dad and I was introduced to a bunch of their family. We attended a multi-day Indian wedding, did some wedding shopping of our own, and did a bit of traveling. On the whole, it was an amazing experience. The down side to this trip was that there were several instance of miscommunication between myself and members of Shivam's family and I was sick for nearly the entire trip in part to a little bad food and some unpleasant side effects of the anti-malaria drugs I was taking. I lost 8 pounds because I was so nauseous I couldn't eat much of anything most of the time. I'd love to lose 8 pounds, but I'd like to do it in a healthier way, you know?
Xmas/New Year:
The xmas holiday was relaxing for me and did I ever need that. Hung out with my folks, cooked some good meals, and watched a couple of movies. Good times. For New Year's I went out with Shivam to the Lovemakers & Cake show at the Warfield. It's the first time I've ever gone out for New Year's. It was awesome. ^_^ I love both bands so a win there, plus they added a Chinese New Year dragon to make it's way through the crowd and a Japanese taiko performance to start off the New Year. It was a most excellent bringing in of the New year.
Wedding:
On returning from India it became apparent that we needed to get in gear and get the plans for the wedding moving. Shivam's full family (mom, dad, bro) came over to my house at the beginning of this month. Mind you, we haven't had a gathering of both of our families before so it was a fairly large deal. It went well, thank heavens. We ate, talked, got to know each other better, went through my photos of India while Shivam's fam provided commentary, talked about some differences in culture, and came up with some wedding date ideas. Good day. Right now we are looking at mid/late November 2008 for the wedding and are researching locations. With luck, the day/time and location will be finalized by the end of January or the beginning of February. Here's to hoping.
Japan:
Finished my contract, packed up my stuff, went on an awesome two week trip around central and southern Japan with my friend Jennie, said goodbye to a lot of awesome people, and came home.
CA Readjustment Period:
Readjusting wasn't awful, thankfully. The first 3-4 weeks was spent getting the essentials in order (cell phone, car, etc) and traveling around visiting family and friends I hadn't seen much of in the last two years. Also got to visit NY for the first time - four days of walking around, seeing the sights - it was fun though it probably would've been cooler if I'd had company.
Job Hunt:
It took approximately two months to land a job. I must say that unemployment is the worst job in the world. Unemployment is working full time to find a job that will actually pay you to work. I feel incredibly lucky that I only had to do it for two months. As for the job I got? Well, it certainly wasn't what I was expecting to get. To illustrate my point, here's my previous job history: University Library Stacks Asst. - 4+ years, Law Firm File Clerk - 1 year, Asst. Language Teacher in Japan - 2 years. Now? I am presently employed as an Estimating Admin. Asst. for a General Contracting firm in SF specializing in high end residential projects. As of this week, I've been informed that they'd like to start training me as a Jr. Estimator as well and I may even learn to be the back up for one of our business development people sometime down the road. Holy cow. I can't express how happy I am to work for a company that WANTS to teach me things!!! Lots of things! I get the feeling I'll be sticking around for a while. ^_^
India:
I went to India for just over two weeks from the end of November to mid December with Shivam, his mom, and his brother. We met up with his Dad and I was introduced to a bunch of their family. We attended a multi-day Indian wedding, did some wedding shopping of our own, and did a bit of traveling. On the whole, it was an amazing experience. The down side to this trip was that there were several instance of miscommunication between myself and members of Shivam's family and I was sick for nearly the entire trip in part to a little bad food and some unpleasant side effects of the anti-malaria drugs I was taking. I lost 8 pounds because I was so nauseous I couldn't eat much of anything most of the time. I'd love to lose 8 pounds, but I'd like to do it in a healthier way, you know?
Xmas/New Year:
The xmas holiday was relaxing for me and did I ever need that. Hung out with my folks, cooked some good meals, and watched a couple of movies. Good times. For New Year's I went out with Shivam to the Lovemakers & Cake show at the Warfield. It's the first time I've ever gone out for New Year's. It was awesome. ^_^ I love both bands so a win there, plus they added a Chinese New Year dragon to make it's way through the crowd and a Japanese taiko performance to start off the New Year. It was a most excellent bringing in of the New year.
Wedding:
On returning from India it became apparent that we needed to get in gear and get the plans for the wedding moving. Shivam's full family (mom, dad, bro) came over to my house at the beginning of this month. Mind you, we haven't had a gathering of both of our families before so it was a fairly large deal. It went well, thank heavens. We ate, talked, got to know each other better, went through my photos of India while Shivam's fam provided commentary, talked about some differences in culture, and came up with some wedding date ideas. Good day. Right now we are looking at mid/late November 2008 for the wedding and are researching locations. With luck, the day/time and location will be finalized by the end of January or the beginning of February. Here's to hoping.