Archive Page 2
Something to Keep in Mind
“Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.” – Thicht Naht Hanh
“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis
on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without
rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment.
Only this moment is life.” - Thicht Naht Hanh
I’m currently in a bit of limbo, I’ve graduated, but I’ve no professional job. I plan to move to Oregon soon, but as of the current moment don’t have the funds or a job out there to supply them. Right now I’m working my old student jobs to save money and pay off rent in the mean time.
Usually in life we’re always waiting for the next step. In middle school we can’t wait for high school, in high school we can’t wait for college, in college we can’t wait to get a job, then we can’t wait to retire. We’re always taught at a young age to plan for the future, not live life day by day. We’re stuck in a constant cycle of anticipation but are forsaking the opportunity to enjoy ourselves right now. That’s the opposite of what we should be doing. You should prepare for the future of course, it is foolish not to have some ’skeleton’ of a plan, but we can’t plan it precisely. We in no way have full control over what happens with our lives, only roll with the punches and hope for the best. The only thing that exists is what is happening right now, some physicist even theorize that ‘time’ is an illusion and doesn’t really exist. If we forsake the opportunity to enjoy this moment we will never be happy. ”Living in the moment, right now” happens to be one of the pillars of Buddhism.
So, just figured I would share that, one of the little bits if wisdom I’m keeping in mind in this in betwen stage of life. Though I’m moving soon to (hopefully) a more exciting future. I shan’t forsake this opportunity to enjoy time with the good friends I have now, because I may not get a second chance, and that ‘better future’ might not happen. And of course, if I do miss an opportunity, not to dwell on it any longer than it takes to learn the lesson, because that may cause me to miss more opportunities in the future.
Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Tags: Life, planning, time, zen
With no sign of a job in May I’ve taken the summer to help save and prepare to move to Portland, meanwhile taking much needed time to hang out with friends as well. I’ve had some good and bad luck in preparing to move, notable great luck including:
- Ability to keep my student IT job for the summer, helping save money and pay what’s left of rent.
- Ability to work with Venture on the ropes course and climbing wall, a bit(majorly) more exciting than working IT. Helps with the income too.
- Landlord is pro-rating rent so I can move out early, allowing me to Be-
- -Able to road trip across the country with my good friends Jane and Justin. Making the trip more exciting and aleving my worries of my car not making it (somewhat).
- A positive looking budget with some money left over to help pay for the trip and possibly afford living accomodations when I get there.
- Due to some proactive getting rid of unneeded stuff and organizing when I moved in, most of my stuff is already practically packed for me. I was halfway done before I started.
The planning process just seems to have minor notable cons such as:
- Can’t find a job
- Portland has the largest unemployment hike of the 100 largest metropolitcan areas in the US
Searching for jobs online is indeed dismal and unreliable. I’ve only received responses (negative) from two job apps, and I really appreciate them at least taking the time to notify me. Both of those were applications I filled at the companies own HR pages. I’ve had zero responses from any applications on job sites e.g. Monster, CareerBuilder, etc. (only spam and offers irrelevant to my interests labeled on my resume). Otherwise it has been silence from every application. There are very very few entry level engineering jobs to be found, every job requests 5-10 years+ experience . There are good reasons to believe these are shadow postings; they’re likely not even considering applicants. They most likely already have a person to fill the position, they’re just required to post them. I’d like to send my personal thank you to all of the wonderful investors and government officials who sternly judge me according to credit standards they themselves cannot live by and have helped to put me and all of my fellow graduates in this dismal situation caused by their greed. Condolences to all the people who are jobless in this crisis, especially those with families. It’s hard enough by myself, I’d hate to imagine if I had other mouths to feed. Well, at least besides the job situation practically everything everywhere else is going awesome for me. Too bad it’s such a downer. Hopefully something will come up before I move in a month.
Filed under: Life, Random Crap | 1 Comment
Tags: engineering, job hunting, jobs, moving, oregon, portland, unemployment
SELL!
It’s little more than a month until I’m moving across the country so I’m selling all (ALL) of my furniture because I don’t care to drag it or pay to ship it across the country, and I don’t want to just throw it all away. It’s all on Craigslist but if any of my friends want I’ll give any of them to you for a reduced ‘friends discount.’ Facebook me, e-mail me, or whatever if you’re interested. Just click on a picture in the gallery below to look at the craigslist pages.
Laptop Rest
Apple Keyboards
Target Desk
Target Mini-Bookshelf
Black Futon
Coffee Table
Speakers
Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment
This is really amazing. This video is composed of a series of 20 second exposures combined into a time lapse video. The filter in the camera was changed to allow different wavelengths of light we can’t normally see with our eyes. The result, a shot of the milky way galaxies center as it rolls across the night sky. Absolutely spectacular.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
For Sale
In preparation for my hopeful trip across the country I’m lightening my load by selling all of my furniture and things I don’t really need. To kick off the process I’ve posted My Dresser and Bass Amp, which have been sitting preserved and unused in my garage. Click if you’re interested.
Dresser
Dresser
Bass Amp
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
I kid you not, from an article on the BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8013017.stm
Quote:
“In the stillness of the high, thin air, the blue and turquoise waters are often like glass, perfectly reflecting the slopes around them, says the BBC’s Alan Johnston, who has visited Band-e-Amir.
However, this quietness may be occasionally punctured by the damaging local practice of fishing by blasting the lake waters with hand grenades, he adds. “
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: afghanistan grenades
The Charlotte Parkour crew was invited to Carmel Christian School to teach kids Parkour! This is a compilation of a few clips to give a glimpse of what went on that day. It was loads of fun and hopefully we’ll get the chance to do it again!
Filed under: Charlotte Parkour, Life | Leave a Comment
Tags: charlotte parkour school education kids
Yin and Yang
It's all about balance
Filed under: Life, Random Crap | Leave a Comment
Tags: caffeine, coffee, yin yang
Twitter Cloud
So here’s a little tag cloud summarizing all of my twitter updates (I refuse to call them ‘tweets’). I like how the smaller words in bigger words correlate, suck as ‘training’ and ’sleep’ being within ‘time.’ But most of all, ‘love’ is within ‘awesome.’
Filed under: Life, Random Crap | Leave a Comment
Tags: butts, cloud, Life, tag, twitter, wordle
Oregon?
For my first week off in eternities I schlepped across the country to scope out wonderful Oregon as a future living place. Why Oregon? The outdoors their are mega awesome. So many things to do compared to Charlotte and what I experienced was merely a modicum of what the state had to offer. Also, several engineering groups out there to work for, including Intel, of whom my uncle works for (where I may end up working).
I took a tour of Portland, mostly of the downtown area. Lots of great microbreweries and pubs with fresh beer made from hops grown only miles away. Also, many interesting shops and eateries, and a mega awesome bookstore (Powell’s). Lots of interesting people, culture, and events as well. The drivers there actually seem to want to yield to pedestrians, blew my mind. Public transportation is years beyond Charlotte’s infrastructure.
My sister and I took an outing to hike in the Columbia Gorge and then drove to Mount Hood, Oregon’s highest mountain (only a one hour drive from Portland). The Gorge was gorgeous (hehe). The scenery even from the interstate was breathtaking. We stayed in a lodge located at 6,000 feet on Mount Hood, with a great view of the 11,000 foot summit. I got to sit in a bar and read a book / drink a beer and while viewing the alpen glow of the sunset on the side of the mountain. Snowboarding down the mountain was also incredibly incredible. I also took an outing to see a friend in Washington and got to take a hike through a rain forest in the Olympics. Quite amazing even in sub 40 degree rain. Can’t wait to see it all in the summer.
I’m pretty set on moving there, the only deciding factor left is… a job. Will probably start flooding the place with resumes next week once I polish it up.
More Pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/erby/collections/72157615490589848/
Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Twitter- serdmanczyk: "Hopelessly drifting / Bathing in beautiful agony / I am endlessly falling / Lost in this wonderful misery"
- serdmanczyk: An American Spongebob in Paris #manlegs
- serdmanczyk: Apparently Dream Theater released a new album in July. But it's still new to me. Mind melt time.
- serdmanczyk: How is it one circle of friends has made my name a synonym for drinking? Thanks Monk.
- serdmanczyk: Helping my friend move into his newly bought house.
-
Flickr Photostream
More Photos
