The Beginning: Retrospective Reminiscing And Prospective Plans. Part One.

An All Encompassing Introduction To My Goals And Plans.

Let’s Start Here.

Wow. I can’t believe I am finally starting my own blog. This has been a personal goal of mine that has been in the works since I graduate from Berkeley. The idea of keeping and maintaining a personal writing space always seemed so idealistic, so creative, and so imaginative. I always envisioned myself sitting in a sunlit room— light filtering in between partially opened blinds, a blanketing warmth permeating through the room, surrounded by lush greenery, smooth, melodic jazz on the speaker, and purring, lazy cat by my side.

Yet, this is where my vision lost clarity. Where the setting, the imagery, the sensations were all precise, picturesque to a fault, the actions— drafting, writing, thinking— were absent. I had nothing to write about. Every time I sat down to write with pen in hand, notebook opened to a fresh page—old school stuff— nothing came to mind, no marks on my paper. My mind, usually so observant, so willing to engage in discourse and almost always seeking to unwrap some delicately packaged mystery became blank. (An interesting technique for quieting my mind, but counterproductive for the task at hand). Its like someone came by, opened my skull, and erased all my ideas before running off without a trace, rudely running off may I add for I become so utterly confused as to my inability to conceive even the most simple of ideas. Logically, I did what any human would do when a task is too difficult, I quit. Or at least I put my idea of writing on the back burner along with hundreds of molding ideas I’ve left to rot. My idea book probably smells horrible.

You may be wondering then, how and why are you here now? And to that, I would say, “What a fantastic question!”, and would provide this answer, “ You see, I have been unemployed for nearly three months now and I have nothing better to do!”

Since quitting my illustrious, coveted role as the premier shelf-stocker of the Dried, Fruits, and Nuts (DFN) section at Trader Joe’s I have been on quite the journey of self discovery. I have fully come to terms with the fact that I hate, absolutely detest with the strongest sense of the word, working. I have also unfortunately realized that if I want to continue living under a roof I have to do something that brings in some kind of money. Leading me to the conclusion that I may as well try and work in an area where I am passionate and where I can make an impact for a cause that I care deeply about. That means not putting Soft & Juicy Mango on a shelf for the fourth time in a day and looking to build a substantial career (sorry Trader Joe’s).

So, I got to thinking. What am I passionate about, what really gets me going. Soccer; I am far beyond this dream. Video games; Again, a graveyard goal and my fingers don’t move like they used to! How about teaching, I have always wanted to try that; On second thought, I am horrible with kids. Photography, fashion, I love that; I hate turning my creative passions into my work, it dulls my enjoyment. Hmmmm… what about public transportation, you really loved that thesis you wrote; Bingo!

I mean who doesn’t love public transportation! The smell of urine, trash filled cars, drug-use, late buses and trains, and…. oh, uh, I forgot we’re in America…. awkward. The general consensus around public transportation in America is, simply put, that it sucks. I have experienced it first-hand, you have experienced it first-hand, and probably everybody you know has experienced this in some form as well. Hell, I have such a gripe with the state of public transit in America that this simple, universal experience got me to write a 35-page thesis on how and why we should make it easier just to catch a damn train (more on this next week).

Alright, I think I found my career path, now what….???

I seriously had no clue where to begin to even start down this path. It was like waking up dazed from a confusing dream needing to pee and trying to feel your way to the bathroom in the middle of the night without tripping, but you can’t turn the lights on because you don’t want to adjust to the light and wake up too much. Blind. I had no experience other than a hastily composed undergraduate research thesis that was fueled by White Claws and sleep deprivation and I had no connections to field of public transit to speak of. You can say I was stranded, stranded on a remote, barren island in the middle of nowhere. And what does one do when they are stranded? Give up and die. YELL AT THE TOP OF THEIR LUNGS FOR HELP! Which is exactly what I did and help I did receive.

This help arrived from an especially special mentor of mine who I reached out to during the beginning of my transition into my job search. I’ll save the excellent direction I have gotten for its own post in the future because it deserves to be unpacked free of my distracting ramblings. But, some of the most useful advise I got was learning how to leverage the magical tool known as LinkedIn and how to land informational interviews. Used in tandem, I opened myself up to a entirely new world of possibilities and opportunities. My confusion and uncertainty transformed into pointedness and confidence once I knew where to look and who to talk to. A world of possibilities opened before me, hundreds of paths, hundreds of interactions, and countless amounts of opportunities now lay before me. If you, like me, are looking for work— I cannot stress the importance of speaking to leaders in your fields of interests through informational interviews. Utterly perspective altering and inspirational when done correctly (and in later post, I’ll add some useful tips I found on how to make the most of these interviews).

It was in informational interviews that I gained clarity, direction, and purpose in my pursuit to work in the transportation field. Since graduating, my goal went from a vague, “Make public transit better!” to a more refined, “Finding ways to increase equity in mobility options for disadvantaged, low-income communities in the Bay Area through micromobility, Transit-Oriented Developments, and more.” which still has room for improvement and specificity, but certainly a noticeable change. It was also in these informational interviews that I was recommended to keep a journal or a blog to organize my thoughts about transit and to have a body of work to show people that I have, in fact, not just been sitting on my ass for three months and have been building my knowledge on transit related issues (Thanks Warren! Although, I doubt you’ll see this). So, to fully answer that hypothetical question I asked myself earlier, I am writing now because I have found something worth writing and sharing— my future. This blog of mine will serve as an intimate look into my job pursuit, my thoughts on how we can make our public infrastructure serviceable to all people, and the occasional helpful tip that I find along my way. I hope that my writing will not only be a useful activity to keep me motivated, but a tool that others can use to know that they aren’t alone on this turbulent path.

This three-month journey from directionless unemployment to intentional job-searching has shown me a lot. To get what you want out of life, to put yourself in the places where you want to be, hard work and grinding are not enough. You have to be intentional about your pursuits. Find the right networking opportunities and act on them. Go to the career fairs and events even if you want to play FIFA. Write a blog about your struggles and future plans even if you don’t know how to start. With intention comes clarity, and with clarity comes results (or so I hope). So, now I am sitting in a sunlit room— light filtering in between partially opened blinds, a blanketing warmth permeating through the room, surrounded by lush greenery, smooth, melodic jazz on the speaker, a purring, lazy cat by my side, and with something to finally write about.

Co-author and cat in question. Monkey D. Chan, Age 1.

Next on my blog page…. Part. 2:

You Made Me Late… The Origin Story.