Tag: pandemic2020

Quickly gazing back at 2020, while planning for 2021

Jan

2021

So 2020 is finally over (and I’m cautiously looking out the window at 2021), but it is also time to reflect back on the year (ups, downs, hills, and valleys). So my apologies if this seems to be a really rambling post–I’m covering the year, but there isn’t any particular order for my thoughts.

2020 managed to shake up the entire year by itself. Earlier in the year there was talk of a novel coronavirus that had popped up in China and was possibly making its way around the world. The first ‘identified’ cases in the US showed up in late January/early February (though now we know that the virus was actually here earlier); and now at the end of the year-the US had just under 20.5 million cases as of New Years Eve, and leads in total cases and number of deaths (I wish someone would explain to people–this isn’t a damn popularity contest; you actually want to be coming in last).

Vaccine development was pushed to the forefront as case numbers due to the virus continued to climb; currently there are two vaccines that have been granted emergency use (I also think that there are two or three more entering phase III clinical trials)–but I won’t be eligible for either of the them until late summer/early fall (with a three-to-four week wait period between the two shots). So needless to say–there was no travel this year, and probably won’t be any travel (at least international) probably until 2022 (at the earliest).

Though I’ve been self-isolating for the most part this year, I decided I would buy some face-masks for whenever I needed to go out and possibly be around people. So far those times have been walking at Boomer Lake this fall and winter (I figured fewer people out in the cold weather), I have the face-mask on, but pulled down and when I can’t keep at least six to eight feet between myself and the other person, I pull the mask up over my mouth and nose. I also have one that I wear when I need to go buy the weekend newspaper, plus several others that I can go between for any other errands I may need to run in 2021.

Both puppies that we adopted last year have settled in, grown, and are showing their unique personalities. Rolex seems to have developed an autoimmune disorder (Vitilgo), which is also an autoimmune disorder that humans can have. So now whenever she loses a little bit of fur-it will grow back in white instead of black. So at some point, she may start looking like a reverse Dalmatian (black with white spots), though she still has a pinkish jaw (the fur hasn’t totally grown back).

Chaos has basically finished growing, though I think he still as a little more muscle mass to put on, and should top off somewhere between 55 and 65 pounds. He walks nicely on a leash for me, and listens to most commands (though to get him in–you do need to have a treat in your hand, he is a little devil in that regard). His only ‘health’ issue right now is dry/itchy skin that we’re treating with a combination of bendaryl, flaxseed, and anti-itch pills (which are a combo of various omega oils). Though we may be switching the food to see if that has anything to do with his issue.

Now once the weather starts to behave, I’ll be walking him more and possibly trying to walk him at Boomer Lake where we may see other people and animals–he grumbles a little at people he doesn’t know very well. When Arick is in town, Chaos grumbles at him every so often–though it may be due also to the fact that Arick was wearing dirty clothes that day and Chaos didn’t like the smell of them. But I do need to try and get him a little more social–mainly so I don’t get the lecture from the vet on his personality problems.

Looking back at what I had planned for 2020, I almost want to break down into tears–I had the idea of trying to focus on just a couple of areas, creating a monthly calendar to keep me on track, posting more on the blog, and just getting more stuff done in general. I also had plans for at least one mental health break trip and then a networking trip as well–needless to say, neither trip happened (and probably won’t happen for another year or so).

While I’m still slightly stuck in the weeds in terms of trying to figure out the next direction for my carer/job, I have realized a couple of things. 1) I know realize that once I feel like I’ve learned all there is to learn within the position, I start ‘coasting’ and have a hard time asking for more things to keep me engaged at work; 2) I really don’t work well with micro-managers and straight up-right upholders (if you don’t recognize the term–I suggest reading ‘Four Tendencies’ by Gretchen Rubin); 3) I do like working in a group setting where there is interaction between people (at least conversations every so often).

While trying to figure things out, I decided that I would retake the Clifton Strength Assessment to see if any of my strengths had changed since I first took it. The top four stayed in the exact same order (learner, intellection, input, and achiever), while the fifth one changed (deliberative to ideation; and when I averaged the two assessments, the fifth changed again to arranger, followed by deliberative. Ideation fell to number nine on the average).

This means that when looking for jobs/assignments/positions, I need to choose things that allow me to be learning (but I also need to have at least a small interest in the subject), dive as deeply as I want into the subject matter, change topics on a whim, work remotely, at an office, or both, and realize that I could be changing tones/subjects/ideas or whatever on a day to day (or even hour to hour) basis.

Earlier in the year (basically at the start of the pandemic) I had more of a drive to try to transition into an industry position and joined an accountability group to help make that happen. While, I haven’t transitioned yet–it did give me ideas on how to go about filling in my job search spreadsheet, which I will be starting a fresh one in the coming weeks for 2021. One issue that was brought up is that since things are probably going to be sticking remote for awhile (especially interviews), one should try to have a dedicated ethernet connection for virtual meetings. Currently, we don’t have one and probably won’t–I don’t want the headache of having to stretch a cord from my parents room (which is where the closest phone jack is) into my room–but this is also a problem to address at a later day in 2021.

Informational interviews probably won’t start happening until the earliest April, since 1) I still haven’t figured out the direction(s) I want to be focusing on in terms of job transition, and 2) I will still need to build rapport with people online before asking if they have time to answer a couple of questions either via email, a phone call, or a Skype/Zoom call.

Another area I was trying to focus on in 2020 was health and fitness. I managed to get serious about pushing play on working out in June. Up until then I had been trying different times of the day for working out and none of them really stuck, until I decided that I would workout in the morning after having breakfast. So, I made the decision on June 1st to push play in the morning (and so far the latest has been ~10AM), and I managed to finish three and a half programs (I still have probably another week or so of the Yoga Booty Ballet-Abs&Butt Series to finish) by the end of 2020.

The goal for 2021 is to complete a total of nine Beachbody workouts.

I also made the decision to step back from trying to do coaching via Beachbody. I had several reasons for this, and I will probably do a separate post on that during the first month or two of 2021.

I had made note at the end of 2019 that I was trying to focus on too many different things, and therefore would try to focus just on health/fitness, career transition (these were tied at number one), then personal/professional development (number two), and if possible crafts as number three. Needless to say–having multiple things actually helps me focus better, when I can switch between things if I start to get bored. My problem was actually needing to figure out how to prioritize the projects/topics and setting up a workable schedule/calendar. Though if I look at my reading list–I did manage to read eighteen non-fiction books in 2020, which is about the average of the past couple of years.

So to help with the prioritizing, setting up a schedule/calendar, I’m going to do the following:

Have a list of non-fiction books that I would like to read–instead of just saying that I will randomly pick one out of the three hundred that I still have to read. This way, the list is smaller and curated–almost guaranteed that I should be able to read at least twenty-five of them during 2021.

I also have a goal to read about forty to fifty fiction books as well during 2021–and I think that I have probably forty-five on pre-order already for the year. I’ve also decided that for the books that I still want to get in 2021, but haven’t been put up for pre-order yet–in order to buy one of them I will need to have read two non-fiction books and two to three fiction books and posted a review on them (blog and amazon) before buying another book.

I’m also going to have a list of forty to sixty different e-courses that I would like to work through for the year as well. These will include most of the advanced Cheeky Scientist programs and then a variety of other courses that I’ve bought from other sites. The goal is to continue working towards an industry transition, though now I’m thinking more remote/freelance/independent/consultant/contract type of work for a while (mainly due to the pandemic situation). As I work through various courses, I will be taking notes and posting updates on the the blog as to what I think of the courses and how taking it has benefited (either by being something I will continue working with or showing me that the topic isn’t for me).

In terms of crafts and hobbies–I’m hoping to get out more with the camera and work on my nature/landscape photography skills and maybe also some architecture/city photography as well. Photography was one of my saving graces during 2020–with sheltering in place I managed to get quite good at getting pictures of hummingbirds in motion at their feeder. I think my top three photography subjects were the ruby-throated hummingbird, the red-bellied woodpecker, and the downy woodpecker.

I’m also going to sit down and teach myself cross-stitching and jewelry design, plus work on my drawing skills. I have a couple of books on jewelry design (and I’m sure I can find other articles and so forth on-line), e-courses on drawing, and I can probably look up an introduction video on YouTube for cross-stitching. One thing I’m having to remind myself of lately–that trying new hobbies doesn’t mean that I’m going to be dedicating my life to them.

I also got back into the habit of doing an evening oracle/tarot card reading. I decided that instead of taking a picture of every reading–I’d ‘sketch’ out the cards in my journal along with what I took away from each card. Then once I started doing a review on the oracle/tarot deck I would reference back to my journal for the layouts that I wanted to use as examples. I’m slowly working on those reviews–I find that even though they’re ‘creative’ writing, I put more thought into them than I do some of the other creative writing posts I do.

Another idea that I had bouncing around in my head during 2020 was to do a weekly recap of the various science news posts that I had read and shared on twitter or LinkedIn–needless to say the idea stayed in my head all year, but will hopefully be put into practice in 2021.

While 2020 was difficult year–December was a very trying month. There were a couple of deaths in the family (one due to the SARS-CoV2 virus, one to other health issues/surgery complications, and one to old age/health issues). Also it didn’t help hearing from an friend who is just getting over botulism poisoning that they are having to go through surgery due to possible cancer tumor on their salivary glands. Then to top off the month–a close friend and her entire family caught the SARS-CoV2 virus, but luckily they seem to have “recovered” from it. Luckily, we’ve been fortunate that no one in the immediate family has come into contact with anyone who has tested positive for the virus.

So while there was zero traveling during 2020, I did manage to get a few things accomplished–I got better with my camera and getting pictures of birds; I have several ideas of possible directions to go in terms of my career; I’ve done quite a bit of self-reflection (though there will be more of self-reflection in 2021 as you can never really be done with it), found quite a few more book series and new (to me) authors, and managed to stay safe and healthy in the midst of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic.

While traveling is still probably on hold for 2021 (damn you both pandemic and poor government response), I will be focusing on the things that make me happy–learning, reading, crafting, photography, meditating, tarot/oracle card readings, and spending time with my family and pets.

Hopefully 2021 will also be the year of making numerous new friends and having coffee/tea/water chats over Skype/zoom/phone/email. I’m going to slowly start trying to get out of my ‘shell’ but at the same time realize that the shell may be the best place to be at times.

The phrases for 2021 are now going to be: “Progress over Perfection”, “You can’t start start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last”, “Not caring what other people think is the best choice you will ever make”, and “evaluate the people in your life; then promote, demote, or terminate. You’re the CEO of your life.”

I’ve also decided that the words for 2021 are going to be: growth, curiosity, creativity, prosperity, and happiness.

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Reflections and planning for 2021: Cancer Full Moon Goals

Dec

2020

So tonight is the last full moon of 2020–that means there will only be two days left in the year. This has been a very long year with everything that has happened, especially the SARS-CoV2 pandemic that we’re still in the middle of; while there have been two vaccines that have been granted emergency use–I’m not eligible for either of them until probably the summer time (I’m currently in tier four for OK in terms of need). Therefore I’m probably not going to be making any major plans for any type of traveling until maybe sometime in 2022 going towards 2023.

So the full moon tonight will be moving through the Cancer constellation. Looking within “Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles” by Yasmin Boland, there are several questions that one can reflect on during this time:

Have I been insecure, clingy, and no fun this month?

Have I been coming at what I want sideways instead of tackling it head-on?

Have I been sulky, moody, brooding, or manipulative?

Have I been secretive, and possibly even a tad paranoid?

Have I had enough family time, or time with people who feel like family?

Well, if I were to number the above questions 1-5, my answers this month would be as follow:

I don’t think that I’ve been insecure or clingy this month. While I’m still not 100% certain of what I want to do with my life–I have several ideas, and need to fine-tune a plan/schedule to be able to devote enough time to each potential project. In terms of not ‘being fun’–we’re in the middle of a pandemic, and therefore there really isn’t anything to do, if one is listening to the health officials and staying home. Finding time for hobbies, in addition to the different ideas for my career are on the agenda–I’ve realized over the past year or so, I do have the tendency to be laser-focused on one thing to the determinate of other things (for example–laser-focused on career/job/school and ignoring health/fitness/hobbies).
Yes, I probably have been going at what I want sideways instead of tackling it head-on. I think I found it a little easier to do it this way, since I’m not 100% certain of what it is I want to be doing.
No, I have not been sulky, brooding, or manipulative. Yes, I’ve been a little moody–but hello, we’re entering the tenth month of this damn pandemic–everyone is getting a little moody.
No, I have not been secretive or paranoid.
Yes, I have been having enough family time (again–there is a pandemic and I’m self-isolating at home with my parents; and we’ve seen my younger brother twice since it started. We’ll probably be seeing more of him once he moves back into town). I would love to spend more time with friends, but again–pandemic, and it really isn’t safe to be getting together with people who aren’t in your immediate family/household.

In addition to the above questions, the full moon in Cancer is also entering my ninth house. The ninth house is the “Big Picture” zone. Basically this zone deals with all things in terms of personal growth, professional growth, travel, religion and philosophy, and so forth.

There are actually two questions you can ask yourself in terms of the above topics:

Have you been fussing too much over the details of your latest problems or tasks?

Is your life and mind expanding or narrowing?

If I were to number the above questions 1 and 2, my answers would be as follows:

This is both a yes and no answer. Yes, I have been fussing too much over the details. I like lists, and I also like to basically have an outline (or at least rough draft) for various projects before starting things. This is more difficult to try to do when you’re thinking of switching directions career wise–especially, if you’re still uncertain about the direction. So instead of doing various things like networking, reading, listening to podcasts, and so forth I’ve been trying to make lists of skills, jobs, companies–but always second guessing and asking myself–“is this really the direction you want to be going”, and more often than not the answer comes back “I have no idea”. I don’t think I’m fussing over the tasks, but that is mainly because I’m not certain of what those tasks should be.
I think that I’m slowly getting back into a learning mindset, and therefore I am slowly starting to expand both my life and mind again. I fell into a ‘closed’ mindset for awhile, more out of self-preservation since I didn’t know what I was wanting to do with my life. I now realize that instead of investigating things and asking questions, networking, reading and trying to figure things out (basically where I am now)–I narrowed my focus to just getting through the day/week to the weekend, and that isn’t the best way to live one’s life.

So the goals for this full moon period may look like a long list–but a couple of them are hopefully going to be checked off the list before the New Year (as they’re part of another goal series that I’ll share in another post).

The goals for the Cancer Full Moon include:

Continue with my night tarot/oracle card reading and brief meditation.
Update various goal posts (150+goals in 2002 day [next installment will be in Feb]; Level 10 life)
Develop a fluid schedule/planner
Make a list of books (mainly non-fiction) to read in 2021 and e-courses to finish in 2021
Read at least one personal/professional development book from said list
Finish one small e-course from said list
Renew one professional membership

And as always the following quotes are going to be coming with me into 2021: “Progress over Perfection”, “You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one”, and “Not caring what other people think is the best choice you will ever make”.

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Mid-month updates, semi-reflections, & setting a direction for 2021 & beyond

Dec

2020

So we’re now basically halfway through December—there are only sixteen days left in 2020.

Fingers are crossed that 2021 goes a lot smoother than 2020 did—though I know that I shouldn’t just sit back and expect things to work if I don’t’ put the work in as well.

I had big plans for the blog in 2020—I was going to be doing weekly posts on different personal/professional development courses that I was taking, I was going to restart the yearly photography challenge, and I was going to post at least one book review a month.

Needless to say—majority of that didn’t happen. In part because of the pandemic, and I was just too pissed, irritated, and frustrated at the world to be able to write anything coherent. Also because of my mood, I only really finished one e-course program (which I still need to write a review over)—I did several small ones but didn’t really take the greatest notes on them.

I read quite a bit—though most of it was fiction, but again didn’t really take any notes (or highlight anything) to be able to go back and write a book review. In terms of the photography challenge—I started it in September, managed probably a week and a half, was looking at the news a little too often—got pissed, frustrated, and irritated again at the world and quit posting pictures.

I’m hoping to change things back around come 2021—there are two vaccines now approved for emergency use in terms of dealing with the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, though I probably won’t be able to be in line for it until probably late summer or early fall (this means that I won’t be doing any major traveling until sometime in 2022). The US elections went the way I wanted (Biden & Harris won, and will be sworn in as the president and vice-president of the US on Jan 20 2021).

How am I planning on turning things around?

Setting up a fluid schedule that will allow me to move between different projects/subjects with a little more ease and not feel like I’m leaning too much in any particular direction.

Possibly having a weekly (or monthly) theme in terms of major blog posts. I will still be doing my new/full moon goals & reviews, plus my month in review. In addition if I start up the photography challenge again, it may just be the picture with a small blurb under it (I may or may not go to the lengths of trying to do heavy research on the topic—especially if I’ve posted pictures before—I may actually link back to the old posts).

Possibly trying to narrow down what I’m talking about (though currently this thought is giving me a small case of the hives). I’ve realized throughout 2020—I have to keep things varied, and I love to learn—I’m actually making several long lists of topics that I wouldn’t mind diving deep into, but I also need to figure out how to make those topics flow within the overall theme of the blog.

I will also be expanding on various pages, plus adding in other pages as well to the site. Since I notice that when I post pages, people may or may not realize that something has been added to the site—therefore within two to three days after pages are posted, I will post a quick blog update linking to said pages. Currently that will probably be within the bird section of the blog, and possibly the travel section as well.

I also realize that it will probably take awhile to build up a large following, since I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be posting on—it’s hard to answer the question of what will help others, when I’m not even sure what direction(s) I want to be taking the blog.

Suggestions are always welcomed—just remember that all comments are usually initially tagged as spam (depending on your IP address and email), and it is up to my sole discretion then if comments show up on posts or if I delete them.

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Time for reflection, planning, & goal setting: Sagittarius New Moon goals

Dec

2020

So the moon will be entering the Sagittarius constellation today, and its last ‘new moon’ phase for 2020. That means there are 18 days left in December and 2020. Truthfully I’m more than ready for the month and the year to be over (but more on that in the month in review post).

So what are some of the things that one can do during the time of Sagittarius new moon?

Looking at the book “Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles” by Yasmin Boland, you can:

Get away—travel.

Study.

Search for meaning.

Laugh.

Be grateful.

With the moon entering into Sagittarius, this is also my second house or the “cash, property, and values” zone. Since the world is still in the grasp of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, the holidays may not shape up the way they do normally for people (I’m actually hoping that people are smart and stay home and have very small gathering for the holidays—set up zoom meetings with family that live far away). I haven’t really been in the holiday spirit the past couple of years—at least not wanting to have a lot of gifts under the tree for myself.

There are several reasons: the main is that hopefully within a year or so I’m going to be moving and I don’t want to be adding any more boxes than what I’m already going to have to add to the ones in my storage unit.

As I’ve mentioned before in numerous posts—I’ve been thinking of working towards a minimalist lifestyle. Luckily the lifestyle can be tailored—as I know I will have quite a few tarot/oracle card decks (one thing that I am trying to limit—but at the same time I love), but will have very few books on the shelves. The books that will be on the shelves will mainly be school textbooks that will be serving as reference books for various posts/courses that I’m also thinking of developing in the future. Anyway, back to the second house—the cash, property, and value zone.

So some of the things that you can do during this time include (again, according to “Moonology: working with the magic of the lunar cycles”):

Start a savings account.

Pay your bills, taxes, debt, etc.

Hire an accountant, if it’s all too much.

Showcase your talents.

Get a neck and shoulder massage.

Invest in an expensive neck cream.

So if I look at the above two lists, there are some items that I can simply check off already—I have a savings account (though it has been used over the past year), and I’m paying my bills, and trying to get my debt down. I would love to travel—but again, we’re in the middle of a pandemic and the holidays. Even if it wasn’t the holidays—travel (especially plane travel) is on hold until I’m able to get the vaccine for the virus and that probably is going to be late summer/early fall 2021 at the earliest. Also—not getting a massage, because hello—pandemic and not wanting to be in close contact with strangers.

With the way the year has started and is ending—I am working on trying to develop a daily gratitude practice, where I write down at least one thing I’m grateful for daily; I’m also trying to find humor in the day (but again with the state of the world—this is a little difficult).

So if I were to make a small goal list for the Sagittarius new moon period, the goals would include:

Develop a ‘fluid’ daily/weekly schedule for getting various things done.
Setting up a goal list for 2021 (working via the larger 150+goals in 2002 days post)
Starting to work through different e-courses (taking notes for future posts)
Setting up a dedicated work station, and a semi-dedicated meditation area in the bedroom

And as always as I head into the last few weeks of December, I am going to remind myself to keep the following phrases/quotes front and center:

“Progress over Perfection”, “You can’t start the next chapter of your life, if you keep reading the last one”, and “Not caring what other people think is the best choice you will ever make”.

While 2020 did NOT go the way I was hoping—it is almost over, and here is to a hopefully joyous and prosperous 2021.

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Reflections of November: Fitness on track, everything else is a work in progress.

Dec

2020

So November is over—the presidential election went the way I wanted (though I was quite shocked at the number of people who thought the last four years were good and wanted four more years of the same shit). The Electoral College will meet in less than two weeks to finalize the vote, then on January 20^th the new president and vice-president will be sworn into office.

I’m still working on figuring out the type of fluid schedule that will have me getting stuff done, but at the same time not feel like I’m being stuck in a rigid schedule.

The US still hasn’t gotten the virus under control—when I published ‘October in Review’ I noted that the US had over 9.4 million cases and now the US is just under 14 million cases (that is an increase of over 4.5 million cases in a month). This means that we’re starting to double in cases a hell of a lot faster than we were even a month ago. While there are several vaccine candidates that are being pushed for emergency use—it will still be awhile before the general population will have access to it (I’m hoping that the first series will be going to the front-line workers—the doctors, nurses, and emergency staff that have to deal with daily; and the two main vaccines require two shots a month apart). While the election went the way I wanted–it will still take a while to get the virus under control and then travel may be possible by sometime late 2021 or early 2022. I’m still planning on at least (hopefully) one mental health trip somewhere.

So as we head into the last month of 2020, I should look back on the goals that I set for November and see how I did with each of them.

Goals for November included:

At least 130-150,000 steps—I’ve realized that as it gets colder, I’m less likely to take my dog out for a walk and I usually am sitting more than anything during those days. Therefore I’m going to have to figure out something to do (possibly put on movies or something and march in place to get the steps).

Finish up the combo calendar of Yoga Booty Ballet & LIIFT4; then start 10 Rounds (which is 6 weeks and should take me right up to Christmas), with a little Yoga Booty Ballet tossed in here and there

Read (or finish) at least 2 non-fiction books

No spend days/no spend weeks/no spend month

Finish the Medical Writers Organization program

Get half way through either the Management Consultant Firm or the Project Management Consortium programs

Start working through at least one e-course that deals with Python

Complete at least two other short e-courses

Start refreshing Spanish

So how did I do with each one?

At least 130-150,000 steps—I’ve realized that as it gets colder, I’m less likely to take my dog out for a walk and I usually am sitting more than anything during those days.

I managed to hit and surpass my step goal this month. I managed to get a little over 218,000 steps (218,813 steps to be exact). I managed this because I took four walks up at Boomer Lake (and the total walk usually gives me about 10-12,000 steps).

So I finished up LIIFT4 mid-November. The rest days were either used as rest days or I did a walk, or yard work (because we did have a ice storm at the end of October). I managed to do Yoga Booty Ballet during the first half of LIIFT4—I may add in a week at the end of month (December) since finishing up 10 Rounds will be around Christmas and I can either start a program a week early, or possibly do a week of Yoga Booty Ballet and then start something new after Jan 1^st.

Started 10 Rounds on the 16^th, and currently I feel like I have two left feet in terms of the foot movement and no rhythm at all for the slips and rolls. But it’s only my first time through—I may do it again sometime in 2022 (as I have most of 2021 already planned out).

Read (or finish) at least 2 non-fiction books

This month I managed to finish reading the following books:

Quit your job and follow your dreams by Michelle Klup

This book basically gives tips on how to get various things in order (finances being the big one), how to transition to part-time, and how to just go about trying to figure out how to translate your dreams into a career, or a hobby.

No spend days/no spend weeks/no spend month

I managed to have a couple of no spend days—but they seldom stretch to no-spend weeks, and it didn’t stretch to a no-spend month. One reason—my impulsive habit of buying e-books, and if the synopsis of the book sounds interesting I’ll purchase it and may or may not get around to reading it for awhile.

Finish the Medical Writers Organization program

I’m almost through the fifth module of the program—I just have to do the writing and editing assignments, post them in the group and get feedback. Then finish up the 6^th module. I have realized that while I’m thinking of going writing—I probably want to focus on either science education/outreach and/or writing for a nonprofit (such as Nature Conservatory, Sierra Club or a zoo/aquarium).

Get half way through either the Management Consultant Firm or the Project Management Consortium programs

I think I watched the first two videos for each program. Having the basics for consulting will be good; even if that isn’t the path I currently want to go on. I have no problems with long hours for a job—I just don’t want to be adding in huge amount of travel (which consultants do, depending on the company they work for and the area they may be assigned). I’m thinking that one way to showcase my project management skills will be to have a better posting schedule for the blog, posting regularly on different social media sites, and creating/posting original content on Linkedin as well. All-in-all two rather large projects I need to start planning out.

Start working through at least one e-course that deals with Python

Nope, this didn’t happen this month. I realize that in addition to trying to relearn/refresh a language, I will also need to consider this goal also as a ‘class’—schedule in the time or I’m not going to get it done.

Complete at least two other short e-courses

Watched the short course on skillshare: Capture your writing ideas: how never to lose track of blog or book ideas.

Basically this short course just talked about different ways of keeping track of ideas: either analog (paper and pen) or digital. I’m basically a hybrid—I like writing out on paper, but I also like to have a list of things digitally as well. I would give the course probably 4 out of 5 stars.

Start refreshing Spanish

Nope this didn’t happen again. I’m actually thinking that I need start thinking of this challenge (refreshing my knowledge of a language or learning a new language) as an actual class. I probably will need to write down that I will spend ‘X’ amount of time per day working on this task—otherwise I know that it isn’t going to get done.

So a little progress was made (namely on fitness) this month. In part, I will admit to being ‘glued’ earlier this month to the news to find out who would be declared the winner of the US presidential election, and the various stupid lawsuits that the outgoing president had launched to try to change the outcome.

I have to remind myself that the only person that I need to be in competition with is myself—and who I was yesterday. I’m working changing my mindset and self-talk. As I had stated last month—it took me awhile to realize that the all-out and full-speed ahead mentality/push basically brought me to that brick wall and burnout. I wasn’t using my strengths the way I should have been using them, and I was trying to meld myself into someone else.

The ‘reboot break’ may not be going as planned—but it has been beneficial. Now all I need to do is figure out the best methodology that will work for me to achieve my goals. The biggest question for me going into 2021 will be—what do I want to be doing in five years, and where do I want to be at that time.

It’s time that I start to draw my own map to my own destiny instead of relying on the maps of others. Therefore–

Goals for December will include:

At least 130-155,000 steps—December is probably going to be fairly cold and I’m not sure how often I’m going to be able to make it up to Boomer Lake for a walk.

Finish up 10 Rounds and then either do a week of YBB, or start one of the following combos: Muscle Burns Fat/Muscle Burns Fat Advance or 21-Day Fix Live/21-Day Fix Extreme Live.

Read (or finish) at least 2 non-fiction books

No spend days/no spend weeks/hopeful no spend month

Finish the writing/editing assignments for the Medical Writers Organization program.

Get halfway through one of the other advanced Cheeky Scientist programs

Complete at least two other short e-courses

Brain dump/organize/create a rough draft for a editorial/to-accomplish calendar/list

And finally reminding myself: “Progress over Perfection”, “You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one”, and “Not caring what other people think is the best choice you will ever make”.

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Time to focus on self care, meditation/mindfulness, & those e-courses: Scorpio New Moon Goals

Nov

2020

So the moon is going to be transitioning through it’s new phase last night–I’m a day late in posting this, and it is moving through the Scorpio constellation. We’re halfway through November, and that means there are only about 47 days left in 2020. While I’m almost joyful that the year is ending (and the fact that the 2020 election went the way I wanted)—I’m also slightly wary to see what 2021 is going to be bringing. I mean in terms of the pandemic, the world is currently over 54 million total cases, the US is over 11 million cases and there are over 1.3 million dead from this damn virus. There should hopefully be a vaccine available sometime next year (but when it will be available to the general population—that is a good question).

So as the moon moves through Scorpio, there are several things that one can do during this time (according to “Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles” by Yasmin Boland), and they are:

Get sexy.

Invest wisely.

Make inner peace.

B-r-e-a-t-h-e

Drop grudges

This moon is also moving through my first house or my image zone (how one presents themselves to the world). While Aries is the start of the zodiac calendar—when the moon (either full or new) passes through your first house, it can also seem as the start of a “new year” (we can have a “new start” twice a year if necessary).

So what are some of the things that one can do during this time?

Surprise friends with the ‘new you’

Throw out all your old make-up and start again

Get married or meet someone new

Good time to move

Splurge on something in a vibrant color

Have a facial

Get your sight checked

For me, this particular new moon period is guiding me to focus on myself, and remind myself that I’m worth whatever work I put into my future—in other words no one else is going to do the work for me. This is a future that is going to take awhile to create (in part to the pandemic), but also because I realize that there are quite a few issues that I still need to work on, but never the less: a new future is going to be made—and I’m the only one that can make it what I want, if I do nothing—others decide my future.

Looking at the above two lists there are few things that are crossed off (getting sexy, throwing out make-up, getting married or meeting someone new, and currently moving). These are only crossed off because 1) I currently don’t wear makeup; 2) I’m not in a relationship or looking to be in a relationship; and 3) in order to move I have to have an idea of where to move to—and that is up in the air; in addition to a pandemic (so no moving yet).

A few other things are being crossed off this year as well: Getting my sight checked (pandemic is still around, and I don’t want to be going places if I can avoid it); surprise friends with the ‘new me’—the new me is still a work in progress, and gatherings are currently again a no-no.

But if I were to make a short list of goals for the Scorpio New Moon they’d include:

Meditating and/or B-R-E-A-T-H-E; I had it as a goal last month as well—I’ve realized that the best way to possibly do it is to hook up the iPod to the mini-speaker and try to play some nature music (or make use of the white noise maker). But also realize that if I can only manage a few minutes at a time that is still a win. Possibly also work through a couple of courses on mindfulness as well.

Start working through one or two of the finance courses that I’ve purchased so that I can possibly start thinking of investing some money at some point in 2021.

Start the 10 rounds workout program (this this a six week program and should take me to Christmas). Also I need to give the program an honest try–therefore I am committing to the six weeks and doing one round (any additional rounds will depend on what I think of the program at the end).

And as I head into the last few weeks of November and then December, I need to remind myself to keep the following phrases/quotes front and center as well:

jessimatts No Comments AstrologyNew Moon GoalsPandemic2020Personal Developmentprofessional developmentReflections Is2020overyetmindfulnesstimeNovemberNewMoonpandemic2020pandemicmusingsPersonalDevelopmenttimeProfessionaldevelopmenttimeScorpioNewMoonSelfCareTimetimetoimprovemymeditationroutinewhatwill2021bring

Two months left in the year–reviewing how October went

Nov

2020

So October is over—we had Halloween, a full moon, plus had to set the clocks back an hour (what could go wrong???). The US presidential elections are in just a few days (fingers crossed that the election goes the way I want it to), and there are only 61 days left in the year.

Last month I tried the experiment of “scheduling” time for both checking my email and being on social media (namely facebook, instagram, and twitter)—the experiment lasted about a week and a half. I’m not doing it quite as often (at least checking mail), but also I didn’t like the ‘structure’ of it—what if I felt like it was the best time to post/share something?? So time management (in terms of email and majority of social media) is still a work in progress (especially on the weekend).

The US still hasn’t gotten the virus under control—when I published ‘September in Review’ I noted that the US had over 7.4 million cases and now the US is a little over 9.4 million cases (that is an increase of over 2 million cases in a month). With elections just a few days away, it will be interesting to see how it turns out—I’m hoping the way I want, that way the virus can be brought under control and then travel may be possible by sometime late 2021 or early 2022. I’m still planning on at least (hopefully) one mental health trip somewhere.

So as we head into the last two months of 2020, I should look back on the goals that I set for October and see how I did with each of them.

The goals for October included:

At least 155,000 steps (breakdown to 5K/day; daily step goal may go up, but again that depends on the daily number of virus cases in town)

Continuing with the combo calendar of Yoga Booty Ballet and LIIFT4

Read (or finish) at least 2 non-fiction books

No spend days/no spend weeks/no spend month

Finish the Medical Writers Organization

Complete at least one other e-course that deals with python

Then complete at least two other short e-courses

So how did I do with each one?

At least 155,000 steps (breakdown to 5K/day; daily step goal may go up, but again that depends on the daily number of virus cases in town)

I managed to hit and surpass my goal of at least 155,000 steps. I actually managed to get in 223,675 steps for the month. Some days were slightly under 5K and other days were usually between 6-9K steps. The main thing going forward I need to do is figure out things to do during the day that will have me moving around more than me sitting on my ass.

Continuing with the combo calendar of Yoga Booty Ballet and LIIFT4

I’ve been continuing with my calendar—though I have taken a week break from Yoga Booty Ballet. This was mainly because I was feeling so tired and blah. I will still be able to finish on time next month, since I had actually added in an extra week of Yoga Booty Ballet to the entire calendar. Plus I can always add in a couple of days of Yoga Booty Ballet to the next program as well.

Read (or finish) at least 2 non-fiction books

I managed to finish the following books:

‘How to be everything: A guide for those who (still) don’t know what they want to be when they grow up’ by Emilie Wapnick

This was one book that was bought mainly because of the title originally. While I’ve been on my reboot break and contemplating what I want to do with my life, nothing was actually jumping out at me as the direction I wanted to go in—and I finally realized why—I’m a multipotentialite. In other words I need to have several different things going at once to keep happy.

Which is why looking back, I enjoyed college so much—I had a wide range of classes to chose from and was able to figure out a major (actually 2) and a minor that allowed me to have variety during the day. Grad school allowed me to dive deep into a subject, the first post-doc allowed me to dive a little deeper, and then I totally switched with the second post-doc and then following staff scientist positions.

While I could have stayed in academia and figured out a way to be multipotentialite—I’m happy that I figured it out on my reboot break. There is one quote that really sticks out to me from this book and it was “We let the fear of being judged keep us stuck in careers that no longer serve us, and identities that no longer fit [us]”. That totally sums up the last few years of my life professionally—since I’m still uncertain about how I’m going to do my transition into industry, I let the fear of judgment keep me in academia longer than I wanted to be there.

Two other little pieces of advice that I’m taking from the book: 1) It is impossible to actually be the best; and 2) if you were an actual imposter—you wouldn’t get imposter syndrome.

I’m going to be taking nuggets of information from various books and blending them together and forging my own path forward.

I’m giving this a five out of five star review.

‘Don’t keep your day job: turn your passion into your career’ by Cathy Heller

One thing I liked about this book was that there were numerous self-reflection questions one can ask themselves when trying to figure out what passion to try to turn into a career, and that there are also four different roles that one can take: creator, teacher, curator, and investigator. Currently—I’m still investigating which of the four I think would be the best fit for myself.

There are also questions to ask about creating a side hustle, and steps that one should take for starting that journey. The two core things I’ve found the most helpful: be yourself on social media (which I try to do anyway), and then I’m also working on trying to identify the 9 to 12 categories that are most dominant in my life—as those are the categories I should be creating my content around.

And the one quote I’m taking with me from this book is “Use your fears to fuel you and raise your standards to the life you believe you deserve”.

I would give this a five out of five star review.

No spend days/no spend weeks/no spend month

There have been a couple days where I did spend some money—not as many days as I’ve had previously, but I still haven’t worked up to a totally no-spend month. Most days it was just a few e-books—but it did add up by the end of the month. One goal for the coming year is to actually try to minimize my spending and see how many days I can go without buying something.

Finish the Medical Writers Organization

Currently I have finished the first two modules and I’m halfway through module 3. I’m hoping to have this program finished by mid to late November.

Complete at least one other e-course that deals with python

This didn’t happen. I spent more of the month reading than I did working through e-courses.

Then complete at least two other short e-courses

This didn’t happen. I spent more time reading and being outside (since we are now heading towards winter, there won’t be many days left that are nice for sitting outside).

I’m working on self-compassion and realizing that even if I don’t meet every goal for the month—I’m still making progress. I managed to finish two books, continue with my workout schedule, and get an additional almost 69,000 steps in this month.

I have to keep reminding myself that I shouldn’t be concerned with the opinions of others—there are going to be people who like me, who hate me, and everywhere in between. It is time to start living my life on my terms, following my dreams, and working towards fulfilling my goals and aspirations and no one else’s dreams/goals/ambitions.

Goals for November will include:

Read (or finish) at least 2 non-fiction books

No spend days/no spend weeks/no spend month

Finish the Medical Writers Organization program

Get half way through either the Management Consultant Firm or the Project Management Consortium programs

Start working through at least one e-course that deals with Python

Complete at least two other short e-courses

Start refreshing Spanish

Any small step is still a step towards progress and achieving my goals/vision. I’m reminding myself daily that going all-out and full-speed ahead is what almost brought me crashing into that metaphoric wall. Now I’m trying to slow down and ask myself—does this actually align with something I want—and not what someone else may want for me?

2020 may not be going the way I wanted it to go—but I know I can head into 2021 curving towards the direction I want to be going in—I just need to keep taking the baby steps towards that direction.

While reminding myself: “Progress over Perfection”, “You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one”, and “Not caring what other people think is the best choice you will ever make”.

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Photography Challenge Day 5: The mighty cicada killer

Oct

2020

Today’s entry into the photography challenge is the cicada killer. This is a large wasp that hunts cicadas—though they don’t eat them (the adults feed on nectar and sap)—the female will lay her eggs on a paralyzed cicadas allowing the wasp grub to feed on the cicada as it goes through several larval stages.

Within the US they’re found in the throughout the country (divided between being the Eastern cicada killer and the Western cicada killer)—and since OK is almost central, I’m going with just cicada killer, and then south into Mexico and Central America.

In terms of size—the female cicada killers are larger than the males, only because they cart their ‘prizes’ off to their nests. I have no idea if this one is a male or a female—I’m going to guess female.

These wasps are actually burrow wasps—the female will dig her nest in the ground, and will have ‘egg cells’ off the main burrow. Within each cell the female will deposit one or more paralyzed cicadas and then lay an egg on the cicada. When the female lays a male egg—it goes on top of a single cicada; if the egg is female there may an addition cicada in the cell as well. Each cell is then closed off with dirt, and the female will continue digging cells as needed.

Once the eggs hatch, and after they go through their larval stages, the young will winter in the pupa stage underground and emerge the follow spring. There is only one generation per year.

I think a new photography goal will be trying to get a picture of a cicada killer carrying a cicada off to her nest, or possibly getting a picture of a cicada killer emerging from the nest in the spring.

I’ve never really been afraid of cicada killers—I always seem to have to ‘remind’ them that I’m not a cicada—as they seem to have really weird flight patterns. But we do get quite a few of these around the backyard in the summer.

Question: which would you prefer seeing a lot of during the summer—cicadas or cicada killers?

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Photography Challenge Day 3: At the feeders–a hummer & a squirrel

Oct

2020

So I decided to go with a duel picture today—at one point this summer I managed to get a picture of both the ruby-throated hummingbird and a squirrel eating at the same time.

I think that the hummingbird wanted to make sure that the squirrel wasn’t going to try to slurp out any of the sugar water, before it started drinking.

Okay, it doesn’t seem to care for the sugar water…..

The feeder that the squirrel is feeding on is suppose to be “squirrel-proof”, and between them and the raccoons—they have managed to get the feeder on the ground at least half a dozen times. We actually have a loop of picture-frame wire as a connector between the hook and the bird feeder. Either the squirrels (or the raccoon) had figured out how to twirl the feeder to get the lid off—so the feeder is also slightly dented in a couple of locations.

The squirrels have found that they can either lie across the top of the feeder to try to pull out seeds, or better yet sit on the tray and slowly pull out the seeds. While the feeder is not longer totally squirrel proof—it is a little too heavy for them to carry off (in the past I’ve had to hunt for other feeders), but the mesh is small enough that it deters them from gorging on the seeds.

The hummingbird feeder is filled with basically boiled sugar water (1 part sugar/4 parts water—1/2c sugar to 2c water), and changed at least once a week—more often during the hottest days of the summer (when it bubbles out).

jessimatts No Comments bird watchingnaturePandemic2020Photography backyardphotographybirdphotographyhummingbirdphotographypandemic2020photographychallengesquirrelphotographysquirrelseatingatbirdfeedersquirrelwatching

Aries Full Moon Goals: Time to reflect/revise, & plan new goals.

Oct

2020

So the moon will be entering its full moon stage either tonight or tomorrow night (depending on where you are in the world). This will mark the first of two full moons for the month of October (the second one will actually occur on Halloween this year). So in addition to being the first of two full moons for the month—it also marks the beginning of the last quarter of 2020 as well. Fingers crossed, that the last quarter goes more smoothly than the first three quarters have gone.

So the moon will be moving through the Aries constellation—which means that astrologically we’re ‘starting a new year’ since Aries is the start of the Zodiac calendar. It is the time to reassess, redesign, toss, and make new goals if one is inclined.

So what are some of the questions we can reflect on during this time?

Have I been hotheaded, selfish, or argumentative this month?

Have I been going too fast or been impulsive this month?

Have I been brash, blunt, or too competitive?

Have I ignored other people’s finer sensibilities?

Have I had enough fun?

So before answering the questions, I do need to point out that it is the beginning of the month, so I actually going to answer these questions based on 1) how I want to behave during the coming month, but also 2) how I behaved during the past couple of weeks. So as usually I’m going to number the questions 1 to 5 as I answer them.

While I haven’t been selfish (at least I don’t think I’ve been acting selfishly) over the past month, nor do I plan on acting selfishly during the coming weeks—unless you consider setting aside time for self-care (for me that is taking bubble baths, and having at least forty-five minutes of winding down at night before bed)—then I will selfishly guard those times. I’m trying to control my temper—I will admit to getting into an argument with people last month. We’re still in the middle of a pandemic, and people are getting tired of the fact that nothing is ‘normal’. They want their kids to be in school full time face-to-face. While I can agree that face-to-face teaching is the norm, and what in theory is ‘best’—if you can’t guarantee small class room sizes, social distancing desks, and that your kids are going to wear the masks all day—it isn’t worth the risk. This isn’t a novel flu or cold that is going around—it is something five (or more) times deadly, and even if it doesn’t kill you it will leave you with health problems for the rest of your life. So yes, this is the one thing that I will argue with people about.
In terms of being impulsive—I’m an impulsive book buyer (and that is something that I’m trying to curb. I know that I have hundreds of books on my e-reader that I haven’t read and I should make a dent in that ‘pile’ before buying more). In terms of going too fast—nope, people will probably accuse me of going way too damn slow—but guess what the tortoise won that race. Everyone goes through life at his or her own pace, and I’m finally at peace that my pace isn’t everyone else’s pace.
Well, this depends on the topic—yes, I’ve been blunt in terms of the novel coronavirus. There are things that everyone should be doing (but most people aren’t doing them), that I have kept harping on (wearing masks, social distancing, and staying home whenever possible). But I don’t think that I’ve been brash or too competitive—again I’m slowing down to my pace, I’ve decided that trying to keep pace with everyone else was too damn tiring and if I’m going to make changes it has to be at a pace I’m comfortable with—and not worry if others feel the same.
I don’t think I’ve been ignoring people’s finer sensibilities—it would actually be nice to see if their finer sensibilities would come out during this time. I’m actually trying to ignore their more obnoxious sensibilities, so that I don’t have to downsize my friend list too much over the coming months.
What is this fun, you speak of? We’re going into month seven of the pandemic; the US has over 7.4 million cases, over 200K deaths, and idiots currently in charge. I am trying to figure out ways to add ‘enjoyment’ to my day, but at the same time realize that the ‘old normal’ is gone, and a ‘new normal’ is still at least fourteen to sixteen months off.

I’ve realized that I’m still happy being a wallflower—someone who is happier observing than participating, but that doesn’t help with networking and job searching. True networking is more virtual these days (thanks pandemic), and so are most job interviews—but I still have to develop the enthusiasm for talking with people (and not worry constantly that they’re judging me)—so here is still a small goal to be working on.

Aries is also moving through my sixth house (or my daily work and health zone). This house is where we can sit and reflect on who we are (both in terms of professional/work and personal/health) and decide to work on those aspects that we don’t like.

I had decided a couple of months ago that I was going to push play daily (and I’ve only missed one day so far), and complete four Beachbody programs before the end of the year. I completed morning meltdown-100 mid-September, and am currently going through a combo calendar of yoga booty ballet and LIIFT4. This combo calendar will take me to mid-November, when I will then tackle a new program (which will take me to Christmas). Then I will finish out the year/start the New Year with a different short program.

I’m not really close to where I was hoping to be in terms of my reboot break and transitioning into industry—in part due to the pandemic, but also in part to still not being absolutely sure which direction to go (I do have several ideas that are swirling that I need to get down on paper over the next few days). I have also realized aspects of the past jobs that I’ve liked and that I’ve absolutely detested—those too are going to be written down. The plan is to have an idea of direction(s) that I can go in that play to my strengths, helps me work on some ‘weaknesses’, but avoids most (if not all) the things I learned to detest over the years.

So what are my goals for the Aries full moon?

Review, edit, and reassemble my 150+ goals to accomplish in 2002 days. I know that there are some things that I can probably remove from the list—I won’t be changing the time period, I will just be changing out goals—seeing what has been accomplished, what needs to go, and possibly what can be added.

Figure out what other ‘notes’ to post around the computer to help in time management. I’ve currently been telling myself when I can check my email and get on social media—it is slowly helping in managing my time.

Continue with personal/professional development. This will include working through e-courses, reading, and journaling (especially taking prompts from different books and/or e-courses).

Draft a ‘master plan’ that includes the blog, the transition (remote, freelance, contract), personal/professional development, hobbies, and life in general.

While sticking to the following reminders: Progress over Perfection; You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one; and not caring what other people think is the best choice you will ever make.

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