#18 - Joshua Tree National Park

Thanks to my good friend Lisa, I crossed #18 off my 30 to 30 list, Joshua's Tree National Park. 

     Since a kid I have always been fascinated with all things concerning "nature".  I spent much of my youth at the the Nature Store in the Avenues Mall looking at amethyst rocks, turning over rain sticks, watching videos in the back corner about animals and astrology. Here in California, there are an abundance of National Parks offering glimpses of truly unique scientific wonders, the likes of which you won't see anywhere else. So naturally, a park was a must on the list. Considering there was a bit of a disease scare in Yosemite recently I figured I'd just wait on that one.

     Joshua Tree is recommended to be seen in early October but better late than I never I suppose. I didn't know that  Joshua Tree was an actual tree not just the name of the park. (It makes sense, but don't judge, I bet a lot of you didn't know that either.) The National Park is a preservation area where 3 ecosystem (2 deserts and a mountain range) come together. The San Andreas Fault runs perpendicular to 2 other faults creating some amazing formations. We just really hoped the big one didn't hit while we where there.


     The unique plants and geological formations are said to be the inspiration for many of Dr.Seuss' illustrations including, The Lorax. I have always been a huge fan of Dr. Seuss for several reasons. First of all what kid doesn't love the colorful, imaginative, creative illustrations? But for me, the older I got the more I appreciated him as a writer. His wise words in simple rhythms is pure genius. I aspire my Katisms to one day have a fraction of the same awesomeness. Maybe now that I have been to Joshua Tree, I can harness and utilize some of the same creative energy.

     Lisa and I were able to capture so many unbelievable photos. Though my creative outlet has predominantly been writing as of late, I have had fun tapping into my "artsy" side playing with the images in a photo editor. It's not exactly oil painting like I use to do but it is the technology age after all. If I ever get a painting station set up again they will make great subjects! But the best part of all the photos is I was able to capture my FAVORITE art subject the sun and the moon in a single shot. To me it is a reminder of balance, give and take, renewal and so much more. Think about all the things that each control, the tide for instance. Using the heat enhancement settings (thermal, infrared, combustion & satellite)  has been so cool with those pics! That probably makes me an official  nerd but then again I'm already writing a blog.

It was such a great adventure. You can't help but to feel have a renewed sense of inspiration. It was the perfect end to a whirlwind week of ushering in a much needed new era.

Photo Album

Wikipedia - Joshua Tree National Park

National Park Services - Joshua Tree

What's Your Journey?

You've heard and read about my journey and my pre-30 bucket list, now I want to hear from you! I want to compile a blog dedicated to the things my friends, family and readers think on the subject of turning 30.

 

If you have already experienced this milestone I want to hear your reflections, wise words, regrets, things you would tell your 25 year old self. What are some things you are glad you did/ accomplished by 30? What are some things you wish you would have done or didn't do?

 

If you have not yet turned in your 20's card, what are your feelings on turning 30, are you excited, scared, indifferent? What things do you want to accomplish or glad you have done?

In preparing to turn the corner, what are you most fearful of and/or most looking forward to?

 

 If you don't want your name next to your responses please just let me know you wish to be anonymous. I sincerely look forward to your thoughts and contributions!

The List

I hit the 6 months to go mark last week, so without further ado, here it is, THE list...

1. Start a business (*waiting for 2013 to official file for tax purposes, Kategorize website to launch 9/14/12)
2. Visit Alyssa in L.A (2/13/12)
3. Run half marathon (2/20/11)
4. Quit job (3/5/12)
5. Move out of Apartment/ South Florida (3/28/12)
6. Shooting Range
7. Ballet and/or Barre Classes (At least 6)
8. Salsa Lessons (At least 3)
9. Certified Park & Recreation Professional exam (7/10/10)
10. Learn to play a new muscial instrument
11. Plan something awesome for 12/12/12
12. Be in a dance flash mob
13. Run a second half marathon
14. Get Passport
15. Plan Missions Trip
16. Train Trip to Seatlle
17. Live audience taping in L.A. (8/4/12) *look for me on The Voice: Battle Round Episodes, behind Blake!
18. Hike or camp in Joshua's Tree (Early October)
19. Camping in Yosemite Park
20. Tour Googleplex in Mountain View, CA.
21. Paintball
22. Rock Wall Climbing
23. DJ an event
24. Tai Chi Class
25. Boxing (6/2012) *joined boxing gym for 3 months
26. Visit Christy in Washington D.C.
27. Choose grad school program.
28. Take beginner class for Adobe Suite.
29. Whale Watching *with roommate Jessica
30. *Wild Card*

...I've got alot to do. If you would like to join me for any of the events I have left, or could help me accomplish them, please let me know! Wish me luck!

Top 20 things I've learned about LA, so far.

Here are a few things I have learned since being here in LA. Some are generalities and some are fact!

1. That's not a summer afternoon thunderstorm I see brewing, it's smog.
2. It never rains. (I miss a good thunderstorm.)
3. Any job in the hospitality field, and others, requires a head shot.
4. Business casual means jeans.
5. There isn't a quality one stop shop for groceries & services. (I miss Publix!)
6. It's a good idea to be home by dark.
7. You are a social minority if you do not own I dog.
8. Drivers are infatuated with using their horns, they are not afraid to use them.
9. Do not go east of Fairfax on Sunset Blvd if possible.
10. Wine is everywhere.
11. California avocados are delicious.
12. Football does not seem to be important to most.
13. Shopping is amazing!!
14. I am a minority.
15. Every street has it's own fashion & culture.
16. The vegetation is beautiful and remarkable!
17. Cost of living is very expensive (tax rates, rent & goods in general).
18. Cab drivers are actually pretty nice and for some reason never expect a tip.
19. It's not your paranoia acting up, people really are staring at you.
20. There is a general lack in sidewalk etiquette, moving over or making room is a foreign concept. If a group walks by 3 wide no one bothers to move to accommodate someone going in the other direction, they will run you into the grass.

Lost In Transition

I can't believe it has been 3 months since I have left my job! Where does the time go?

The first month was spent determining weather or not to have surgery the second month then was spent on figuring out where to go (exactly) and how to get there. The third month has mostly been consumed with finding a place to live and a means of income.

I have been following the advice once again from the 48 Days To The Work You Love book. The advice this time is it should take 2 weeks max. to make a decision, any decision. So I have been following this rule of thumb first in the choice of picking a place to go. Choosing California was easy, picking a city was more difficult. Upon arrival I used the same 2 week principle for finding an apartment which was very difficult considering the LA area is densely populated with neighborhoods and smaller cities I know nothing about. None the less, I was able to secure a place within my 2 week time frame, however the move in date does not fall in the same window.
I am currently in my 3rd week of limbo here in LA with an apartment secured but possibly another week till move in. I now enter the interesting world of finding employment in Los Angeles. This could seriously be a side blog unto it's own. The quick version, check craigslist.

It's just so odd how you think you are making these big decisions so you can get to where you want to be both in life and literally. Making a (bold) decision to not do something will open doors (sometimes by shutting other doors) for you but it doesn't necessarily lead to your desired destination. You have to keep making choices and decisions everyday to propel you down the road you set out for. People (myself included) don't often anticipate the continued dedication it takes to your intended goals, vision and to the process of decision making to keep you moving forward. I suppose that is due to the fact that you are no longer on autopilot and have to navigate through the uncharted. There are some days I don't want to keep making these unknown decisions but you have to otherwise more and more time will pass and you will be no further along and what you once thought was a transition period becomes your life.

Other than that it's time to complete my 30 to 30 list and get it done! I can't help but to feel like I am in a good city to get some diverse activities added and crossed off the list!

I would love suggestions of things to add to the bucket list.

Cheers!

Identity Crisis

Identity crisis, when someone struggles defining who someone is, usually themselves.
How are we identified as people, as a person? What criteria do we use; what we look like, how we dress, who we hang out with, what we believe?
Of course not! Society has somehow evolved into defining a person by what they do occupationally, and only that. The second sentence after "Hi my name is" is "What do you do?" And we simply reply without thought, "Oh I'm in real estate." And within two sentences "Becky, in real estate" has been defined, identified, classified, categorized, and all the like.

Now, as I find myself being asked that question by the lovely people of Myrtle Beach I can't decide if i want to be a wise guy or say something thoughtful.  I usually say something like "I'm exploring my options" which i think sounds optimistic and better than "unemployed". Though I chose to quit my job, think about how devastating that question could  be for someone who didn't choose that.

With the help of 48 Days to the Work You Love and having time to reflect I have been able develop a better idea of what I want (the question that started the avalanche last Sept.) and how all jobs along the way should support your overall life calling/purpose not directly define it. Instead of asking "what do you do?" why not ask, "what is your calling?" or even, "what do you like to do?"  How many people work at banks or schools but have passion's in life that have nothing to do with their job.

So I encourage you, the next time you are asked "what you do" be creative with your answer. Also try to be original, start a conversation with a genuine question or topic not a routine, thoughtless one. You would probably get to know and understand someone a lot better that way, that is of course, if you care to know and understand them.

The Sea of Possibility

I have set sail in the Sea of Possibility. There was great excitement preparing for the journey and leaving the Land of Stuck. Trouble is, it's starting to feel like I set sail without a map and compass. With the view of endless sea stretched out before me to the east, west, north, south and every conceivable direction, it's hard to choose a course. You don't want to pick the wrong one, so you wait to see if a proper course will make itself evident...but it doesn't. At least not in the timely manner which you need it to or want it to. With indecision, you begin to feel you are just drifting. Then you begin to feel lost. Lost at sea. What does it really mean to be lost? To not know your whereabouts? To not know you current location in relation to you desired destination? If you don't even know your desired destination, you would never truly know where you are going and I suppose you would always be somewhat lost or at least drifting.

Am I a drifter? Am I born to walk alone? While "I've made up my mind and (decided) I ain't wastin' any time" like the Whitesnakes , I actually do want to know where I am going. I initially have thrown most of my thoughts into physical locations but maybe it isn't necessarily a place (yet) that should be the focus but rather identifying a purpose.

Last week the job searches became overwhelming and I realized that I might be a little too "open-minded" for Internet job search sites. My days were just flying by and I could not tell you what the heck I even did with them. I mean I would look for hours, but I didn't really accomplish much or feel like contributed to the productivity of my day (most days).

I went home this past weekend for my cousin's graduation and my dad's birthday. It was great to be home for many reasons but mostly it was great because I spent the whole time with family. I was happy that I could be home to share these special occasions. I was able to spend the day with my dad on his bday, Monday which was special and uplifting.

Even though, my dad is now retired he read a book within the last 6 months or so titled "48 Days to the Work You Love" by Dan Miller. I think he heard about it from Dave Ramsey's show, who wrote the forward for the book. He has quoted the book numerous times since Thanksgiving. As a matter of fact, when my dad had a "sit down" with me at Christmas about my life and what I was doing with it, he referred to a statement in the book that most people change jobs/ careers 4 to 5 times. I found that number a little high but was encouraged he thought it was acceptable anyway. So I had full intentions of asking to borrow the book when I was there last weekend.

I am only on day 3 but I feel positive that it will help provide a compass (for the long run). I first noticed that the title doesn't say the "Job You Love" but rather it's the "Work You Love". The book's premise is "Looking inward is 85% of the process of finding proper direction, 15% is application to career choices." (side note: I found a similar article yesterday in Forbes.)

The anxiety is still climbing as it is time to relocate and the dollars keep adding up. I had my second MRI for my shoulder Tuesday, so I should hopefully get the results today or tomorrow. Either way, I will feel better knowing what I am dealing with and it will help give me some direction while navigating the vast Sea of Possibility.

Quitting Your Job: The Aftermath

3 weeks.

3 weeks is about the amount of time it took me to say, "oh crap" after quitting my job.

Human perception is a funny thing. When people go on a diet, the #1 piece of advice I hear over and over from nutritionists, or anyone giving advice on the subject, is to keep a food journal. Why? Because people tend to grossly underestimate the amount of food and calories consumed and grossly overestimate the amount of exercise and calories they burn. I'm inclined to think the same can be said with finances.

I can only think of maybe one or two times I've checked my bank statement and actually said, "Yesss! I have way more in there than I thought I did!" It's usually about what we expect, what we plan for, and sometimes it's a little less. Though I was fully aware of what was to come when making the decision to quit, it's a bit different actually living in it. My "oh crap" moment came when the reality of paying my COBRA bill set in, $670.

I probably had the best health insurance I will ever have with my previous job. My hip surgery last May cost less than my cat's annual vet visit (also last May, yes, I know that means she's due). Of course as great as the insurance is, with those outrageous monthly dues, I wouldn't hold on to it if I didn't need to. Just before I left, I was having shoulder pain, decided under the circumstances I might as well get an MRI to be sure. Turns out the radiologist believes I have a labral tear, same injury as my hip. Yaaay. So I precede to interview some surgeons and turns out, I received 3 different opinions. The Broward County revolving door office had me on the surgery books before I left without much explanation of anything. My hip surgeon doesn't believe I have a tear, and the third surgeon believes I have 2 tears and a fracture. My referring doctor calls the radiologist to review the MRI more closely after which he then states he believed I have micro-tears and a hill-sacks lesion. So, I find it a little hard to move on to an individual health insurance policy at this point since they have this little thing called "preexisting conditions."

I go for my second MRI May 1st at which point I will hopefully be able to make a decision as to weather or not to have surgery. I do not want to have surgery. Especially after just having had surgery less than a year ago. I guess it doesn't really help that I am unemployed at this point does it? Although on a positive, I would have plenty of time to recover!

30 to 30: The Back Story

I am a bit behind on getting my blog up and running but here is my best attempt at a "brief as possible" summary.

When growing up, you expect certain milestones in your life will, along the way, just happen. Graduate high school, go to college, graduate college, get a job and somewhere in there you get married and then sometime after that you get a house, have kids and live happily ever after. The realization that this just wasn't so made a few mildly memorable impressions before now; like looking for an internship and finding my first job (that stuff for me certainly didn't just happen.) I would speak of things I was going to accomplish and life events with certainties. These things just magically happen right? I mean especially by 30!

Graduating college was pretty much the end of any "actual plan" I ever had. 

Now What?? I wasn't married, was having trouble finding a job and I found myself right back in my hometown (the one place I swore I wouldn't go, but finances said otherwise). At 24 I accepted a job with a City in South Florida. Finally! I was off to explore the world, live my life and surely these "life" things will follow.


Though it was not my dream job it was a solid start and the first step, a stepping stone for the rest. And it was, at first, but shortly after the move, Kat Splat tripped all over that stepping stone. Things did happen there, life happened; a bad break up, bad economy and a few other bad scenarios left me focusing on the day to day and less on the world of possibilities around me. Compared to Tally or Jax,  Ft. Lauderdale was pretty fast and it was hard to connect.  


Turning 27 hit me kind of hard. Realizing that practically none of the things that I thought would "happen" by 30, had actually "happened" and a lot of things I never thought would happen, did. So I sat down and compiled a list of all those things I wanted (expected) to accomplish by 30. While compiling this list, 3 things occurred to me.
1) Limitations of control. As much as I wanted to list "get married" or "land dream job" by 30, I couldn't. I alone do not have control over this. Though slightly discouraging, this lead me to my second realization.
2) Setting and accomplishing (realistic) goals is extremely empowering. Though I can not single handedly accomplish things like getting married there are a lot of things within my power. Not only were things within my ability it was my responsibility to recognize and accomplish these ambitions. Seems simple I know, it's the application of being proactive that's the hardest.
3) I didn't have 30 things to list!


I started adding and checking things off my list, revising it from time to time. Things at work improved then declined. I moved again, but I still felt completely disconnected with South FL. I didn't understand it's ways, it's people, it's priorities. I'd say to myself, I'll leave when this happens or when that happens, but those things rarely happened or if they did something else would come along leaving me to say the same thing.

The inertia began at a work conference in Sept 2011. When discussing certain work politics with a respected manager from another county, he asked a question that honestly changed my life. I was unhappy with a certain situation involving upper management and he asked me, "Well, what do you want?" Within the context of our conversation it was referring to my current career but it has resounded in my head to this day. What did I want? If I wanted to move up in my current field badly enough, obviously it would influence my attitude, thoughts and actions. 


Four and a half years after my move to so Fl, there I was, feeling completely stuck in a place I didn't like, with people I couldn't relate to working in a job where I no longer saw a future or at least woke up enough to realize I never really had planned on one there in the first place. I felt trapped. And worst of all I was quickly approaching my 29th birthday, with pretty much nothing crossed off my 30 to 30 list!


I took my first real vacation in 5 years in February 2012. By real I mean not going home for a Holiday or to a wedding. I went to Southern California! LA for 2 weeks and a day in San Diego. I saw one of my very best friends and my brother, both of whom I have not seen in almost 4 years. I didn't want to leave. For a life long Floridian, the mountains were mesmerizing and awe inspiring. The people of LA were inspiring, people we often mock ("that'll never happen, they'll never make it"). But they had a vision, a passion, a dream, they followed their hearts and refused to be put in a box or live a life they could not identify with or believe in. I found myself a bit envious almost because they knew what they wanted. I loved how creativity was encouraged, getting dressed was fun again. I felt so alive and renewed. But like all great things it came to end.


I almost threw up when I had to put on my uniform for work again. Being removed from a situation (the farther the better, and I was pretty far) always helps you see the big picture. The magnitude of depression I felt when having to return was more than revealing, it prompted me to action. Waiting to board the plane, I blabbered to one of my best girls on the phone and asked if I would be crazy to just quit my job. At that point it didn't even matter if it was crazy or not, I didn't really know what I wanted, but I knew with all my heart, the life I was living wasn't it. Why waste any more time investing in something that wasn't part of my future. I was too young to feel so trapped and miserable!


On my 29th Birthday, I turned in my letter of resignation. 3 weeks later I arrived at my friends house in Myrtle Beach. And here I am, 29, unemployed in Myrtle Beach. I have a few ideas, but I don't really know what I am doing. Not a fiber in me regrets what I did. Obviously it is a bit scary but exhilarating. This blog is to share my journey as I navigate the road ahead. Wish me luck...