I'm actually shocked that the last time I wrote an IceBlock post was in October of 2013. So it feels like a "happy new year!" is in order, but well...
It's already March of 2014!
In terms of actual events, this year hasn't been too exciting so far, with my trip to California at the end of January being the highlight, of course. Other than that, life in NYC has been the usual bull, only with way more snow than usual, which is just fantastic (certainly sarcasm).
Usually when I come back from California, I feel refreshed and more patient about changing my situation here in NYC. This time, though, I felt as disgusted as when I left, only I didn't have a trip less than a month away to act as the temporary silver lining. I already know that I stress myself out incredibly, so I've been trying to really take matters into my own hands and get the gears of my life turning in full swing. The plan of attack, for now, is to develop whatever skills I can until I get experience in a job/career that I can actually support myself with.
That means putting more into my self-run projects, including this blog. *Notice how I churned out so many posts in February, which is ironic because (a) I was gone the first week of it and (b) it's already the shortest month of the year!*
Starting 2014, my job started paying me more for my hours in the office, but I only do 5 hours a month of that work so it barely makes a difference. Still, I'm taking advantage of being trained in Excel and QuickBooks, so there's that.
Outside of work, I'm trying to overcome the biggest roadblock in terms of finding a new job: figuring out what it is that I want to make a career out of. Truthfully, I love sharing my opinions on things - hence this blog - so that would be the most ideal of jobs, but there is no perfect world and in the real world, not many people get to do with they love. In any case, my career choice is ultimately what it comes down to, because that is the starting point for the job search. Until I can make the necessary decision, I don't even know what jobs to look for or apply to.
And that brings me back to my self-run projects. I haven't worked on my writing in a while, but I have been trying to work harder on this blog, as well as trying to develop better editing skills that can help me improve on this blog. I've been familiarizing myself more with my computer's Photoshop (which is PSE, but hey, once you know one you know them all, right?), which you can see happening in my previous review here. I finally created a watermark for my pictures which is great, not because I'm afraid people will steal my mediocre pictures but because typing out my blog address on every picture with Paint is inefficient and tedious. My watermarks may look sloppily placed in that post but that's because I'm not sure where I want to stamp them just yet (in the center? off to the side? through the images?).
Then there's the picture at the start of this post. It's a picture from a video I just edited of my ferret, Lola. I spent a good chunk of today filming and editing that video. It's not an amazing video, but it is the second video I've edited of her, and the second video I've edited in general to date, so even though it's simple it still takes me more time than it should. That's okay, though, because you have to start somewhere. I want to eventually make video reviews for those that hate reading my novel-long posts, so that's where that fits in. Besides, as a holder of a creative writing degree, I feel like my professional creative skills need a step up from where they are now.
I truly am excited to get my life going. After college I decided that I only wanted to spend 2 more years in NYC. Well, by the end of this year those two years will be up. No matter what I decide to do, time is ticking by. I can easily get intimidated by the immediacy of it all but I'm happy to say that, instead, I'm motivated to try harder. I know I can achieve my goals if I really give them my all.
That's what 2014 has been about thus far. Trying, trying, and trying again, harder than before.
Here is to a year filled with accomplishment and change for all of us. Stop putting things off and start getting things done!
~nikki
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