Saturday, June 13, 2015

Positives Tue May 19-Fri Jun 12, 2015

*Interviewed for a Customer Account Analyst position. Phone interviewed for a part-time data entry position and a data coordinator position.

*Participated in a user experience study.

*Watched documentaries at Documentary Storm web site.

*Purchased the Diamond Head Spot Storm head lamp, Eagle Creek compression sac, and Harbinger Pro wristwrap workout gloves.

*Cleaned the house.

*Finished reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel and Freaknomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

*Ate Safeway Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola Bars for the first time.

*Ate at Gay Nineties pizza and Meadowlark Dairy soft ice cream for the first time.

*Backed Owltac A1T Endure flashlight on Kickstarter.

Friday, June 5, 2015

Life Rule Number 9: Welcome A Roller Coaster Life

Blogger's note: Today's blog is posted at both Innovating Common Knowledge and Finding Raymond Mar blogs.

I discover life rule number 9 today. I combine my personal life puzzle success pieces together. Here are the puzzle pieces below:

*Fight the pain, the suffering, and the struggles to keep living.

*Never stop learning. Never stop innovating. Get better every day from head to toe. Exercise your body from head to toe. Get stronger, smarter, kinder, and wiser.

*Go with the flow.

*Have faith. Believe in myself.

*Trust what I'm doing now helps me succeed later.

*Control what I can control. Don't control what I can't control.

Life has many ups and downs like a roller coaster at an amusement park. It's life. People have up days, weeks, months, years, and seasons. People have down days, weeks, months, years, and seasons. Go with the flow. A person must continue getting better regardless whether a person is up or down. Never stop learning. Never stop innovating.

I control what I can control. I can't control what I can't control. Sometimes I can't control the bad events. My recent bad event is I'm unemployed. I'm looking for a job. I feel terrible being unemployed. I fight the pain and the suffering for each rejection. I struggle applying to jobs I quality knowingly there's someone better. I control my actions being unemployed. I exercise my body from head to toe. I work out at the gym to stay physically fit. I learn new job skills such as dashboards and simple linear regression. I refresh my existing job skills such as SQL and Excel. I trust what I'm doing now helps me find a job soon. I have faith I find a new job soon.

I believe my roller coaster currently going down is going up soon. I continue to get stronger, smarter, kinder, and wiser when my roller coaster starts going up again. I get better physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and financially every day in good times and bad times.

There are other moments which cause my roller coaster going down. I lose good people in my life. I'm involve in a car accident with injuries and/or losing my car. A natural disaster affects my family. I'm sick for an extended period. My health is affected with a long-term illness. I have financial problems. Somebody filed a lawsuit against me. Unemployment has caused my roller coaster going down the most since Oct 2008. I find long-term employment soon.

I introduce my daily life rule number 9 "Welcome a roller coaster life". The companies who terminated my contracts are welcomed into my life. The good people who said goodbye to my life are still welcomed in my life. I welcome the good people who are still part of my life. The lonely feelings yesterday and today are welcomed into my life. I welcome my leisure activities. My limits buying goods and services are welcomed into my life. My boring household is welcomed into my life. I welcome cooking and cleaning at home. My job rejections are welcomed into my life. I welcome the job searching seven days a week. My Gaming PC which broke in Dec 2014 I upgraded and renamed Raymond's PC is welcomed into my life. I welcome my gym workouts four days a week.

I took a picture of my roller coaster life since 2000 not in scale:



2000 started on a bad note with the dot com crash. Fast forward to March 2007 which began the longest roller coaster descent. 2007 overall was my worse year which continued to Sep 2008. The recovery began on Oct 4, 2008 when I realized I must grow up. I found a job in Nov 2013 and another job in Nov 2014 which ended those two years on a high note. Jun 2015 is going down because my Nov 2014 contract job was satisfied.

My life daily rules in its entirety below:

1. Don't criticize, condemn, and complain, and don't compare with others.
2. Don't act like a jerk or bitch.
3. Always speak calmly and be calm.
4. Don't daydream when driving.
5. Keep your head up high . . . look at their cute face when talking.
6. Breath with your nose and stand up straight.
7. Have faith. Believe in yourself.
8. Let me think. Be discrete.
9. Welcome a roller coaster life.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

We Experience Bad Years Like Actors Starring In Bad Years

Tom Hanks starred in a string of bad movies: The 'Burbs, Turner & Hooch, and Joe Versus The Volcano. Bruce Willis started in a string of bad movies: Hudson Hawk, The Last Boy Scout, and Striking Distance. The actors resurrected their careers eventually. Hanks starred in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump. Willis starred in Pulp Fiction. They're household celebrity actors with a good list of good movies.

My 2013 and 2014 were bad years. The last time I experienced back to back bad years was 2007 and 2008. 2013 and 2014 ended on a good note when I found new jobs. Similarly, I realized I must grow up in 2008. 2013 was a bad year because I had too much fun, made bad choices, and I took life for granted. I admit I forgot one of my life lessons which was don't take life for granted. I was reminded don't take life for granted when I found a job in Nov.

2014 started being a bad year when I got sick in May. The sickness lasted six weeks. I didn't work out at the gym. I took two days off because I was sick. I felt fatigued on some of my shifts. I failed a skills test during an interview in Jun. The failure motivated me to review my job skills in Jul and Aug. The saddest day of my life happened on Tue Sep 9 when I quit my new job after two days because of questionable business practices. I job searched six days, I reviewed my job skills seven days, and I learned new job skills seven days for each week in Sep and Oct. I reviewed Excel, SQL, and Salesforce. I learned Python. I announced my retirement from Japanese Anime in Sep which gave me more free time to prepare for my next job. The hard work paid off in Nov when I found another new job with good business practices.

The experiences I experienced and the lessons learned in 2013 and 2014 and opening myself up began 2015. Be professional at everything I do. I work out at the gym to stay in shape. Don't take life for granted. I escape my comfort zone trying new things. I completed the Community Emergency Response (CERT) volunteer training in Feb. I continue reviewing my job skills starting in Apr. I continue working on my goals: meeting new people and making new friends, learning new job skills, finding a permanent job, working out at the gym consistently, and moving out.

Currently, I'm looking for another job. My last job the contract was satisfied. I follow the same routine in Sep and Oct 2014: job searching, reviewing my job skills, and learning new job skills daily. I workout at the gym four days a week. I find time to take care of the house. I find time to take a break.

Everyone experience down years. It's life. There are some aspects in life nobody has control. Stay strong. Stay positive. Learn from the down years. It's part of getting wiser. Hope for good timing and good luck to lead us to successful ventures or to bounce back from negative events.