It is time for my annual year in review post. (Here's last year's post if you want details... you can click through and read earlier years from there.)
I don't think I wrote enough this year to pick my usual two to three posts per month. So instead, I'll just summarize the year and share a few posts.
Obviously, the political situation in the US was a big part of my year. The post I wrote the day before Trump's inauguration summarized how I felt at the start of the year, and it is still accurate. January also featured the release day for Caresaway.
In February, I ranted a bit about how angry all the lies in our political discussions make me.
In March, I wrote about why I don't think we should worry about immigrants "assimilating." And I found a great recipe for pizza dough. It is easy enough to mix together in the morning that I think we can continue our Friday night pizza dinners even when I am no longer working from home on Fridays!
I found 2016 and the ugliness around the election to be much harder on me as a woman than 2017 was, but I know that for many women, 2017 was the year when the anger about all the extra crap we've had to deal with broke out. I do have at least one post relevant to that: some thoughts I had after having lunch with an old friend in April. I also wrote about our spring break trip up the coast to Santa Barbara.
The headwinds I was feeling in May eventually combined with some other factors to make me decide to go back to "regular employee" status... which led to all the drama I've been posting about recently (and will summarize below). I also wondered how much further down we'd go in terms of bad behavior by political leaders. I'm sad to say, I don't think we have found the bottom yet. But I had a good birthday!
June brought the release day for Hemmed In, which is my best performing Taster Flight to date. I also wrote about trying to figure out how to keep Pumpkin challenged and happy at school, and got some good suggestions in the comments.
We took our vacation at the end of June and beginning of July. It was a road trip around some Western states, and it was wonderful. We saw many wonderful things, and you can go click around to find all the posts about them. I also wrote about some political observations from our time in Utah.
I didn't post much in August, partly because I had a week solo with the kids as Mr. Snarky flew to New Zealand to surprise his father for his birthday.
In September, I wrote about what I learned from my mid-life crisis. A lot of those lessons figured into my eventual decision to go back to being a full time employee. I also released Water into Wine.
I finally finished up my posts about our summer vacation in October: here's the last post. And I wrote about my theory for why we have mid-life crises.
November brought the release day for The Burning, and since I was struggling with a cold and then follow on illnesses that in the end wiped out my entire month, my announcement about my decision to go back to being a regular employee came as part of a Weekend Reading post.
And that brings us to December. There was a release day for Both Sides of My Skin, and then I lost the old new job and got the new new job.
All in all, 2017 was a tough year, but one that my country came through better than I feared we would at the start. There were some great times for me and my family, and some tough personal decisions. I felt like I reaped the benefits of the some hard personal work I'd done in the previous few years, so I guess that's a plug for not putting off that personal work. I had no way of knowing that in sorting through some of my old buried issues in 2015 and 2016 I was making it easier for me to get through 2017... but this year, I was really, really glad I'd dealt with those old issues when I did!
So in that spirit, I plan to spend some time over the next few days thinking about how to be ready for the challenges I think 2018 will bring, both in terms of the wider political situation and in terms of my own personal situation. I may write about that, but that will need to wait until another night. For now, I'll just thank you all for reading in 2017!
Thursday, December 28, 2017
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
The New New Job
I said I'd write more about my new job after Christmas. Now that I've sat down to do it, though, I am not sure what more to say.
I guess I can explain how I was able to land a second new job so quickly when the one I'd just started suddenly went away. A friend had contacted me about a potential job right after I accepted the first new job, and I'd had to tell him I wasn't interested. So, when I found out that I was without a job, I emailed him to say that now I was available. To be honest, I was mostly joking, a sort of "ha ha, joke's on me" sort of thing. I didn't expect the job he'd contacted me about to still be available. And it wasn't. But another job, reporting to the person who'd taken the job he'd originally contacted me about, was still open. He told me to send my resume, so the day after I lost my job, I spent a few hours reworking my resume for the new job and sent it in. I had a phone interview soon after, and then went in for an in person interview... and then I got a job offer and accepted it.
Since I'd recently surveyed the job landscape in San Diego, I knew that I was likely to have to take a job less senior than the one I'd just lost, which made it easy to make the decision to go ahead with this new job. It is definitely less senior, but I'll be learning some new things and there is room for growth. So I think it is not a bad career move, and the pay is enough that I can afford to take the less senior position.
The new new job is also a lot more flexible than the old new job would have been: I'll be able to work from home a bit, and they are happy to have me accept the occasional offer to give a seminar. Also, it will be a shorter commute, and the new location is quite close to one of the YMCA locations that I can use my membership at (we have a family membership because that makes the kids' programs cheaper). So I think this job will fit my life really well, and is a good fit for my skills and interests. I start the job in about a month.
All in all, things have turned out remarkably well, and I'm feeling very fortunate.
And so is Petunia. Hr first question after I got off the phone negotiating the job offer: Does this mean we still get to go to Disneyland? Yes, it does!
I guess I can explain how I was able to land a second new job so quickly when the one I'd just started suddenly went away. A friend had contacted me about a potential job right after I accepted the first new job, and I'd had to tell him I wasn't interested. So, when I found out that I was without a job, I emailed him to say that now I was available. To be honest, I was mostly joking, a sort of "ha ha, joke's on me" sort of thing. I didn't expect the job he'd contacted me about to still be available. And it wasn't. But another job, reporting to the person who'd taken the job he'd originally contacted me about, was still open. He told me to send my resume, so the day after I lost my job, I spent a few hours reworking my resume for the new job and sent it in. I had a phone interview soon after, and then went in for an in person interview... and then I got a job offer and accepted it.
Since I'd recently surveyed the job landscape in San Diego, I knew that I was likely to have to take a job less senior than the one I'd just lost, which made it easy to make the decision to go ahead with this new job. It is definitely less senior, but I'll be learning some new things and there is room for growth. So I think it is not a bad career move, and the pay is enough that I can afford to take the less senior position.
The new new job is also a lot more flexible than the old new job would have been: I'll be able to work from home a bit, and they are happy to have me accept the occasional offer to give a seminar. Also, it will be a shorter commute, and the new location is quite close to one of the YMCA locations that I can use my membership at (we have a family membership because that makes the kids' programs cheaper). So I think this job will fit my life really well, and is a good fit for my skills and interests. I start the job in about a month.
All in all, things have turned out remarkably well, and I'm feeling very fortunate.
And so is Petunia. Hr first question after I got off the phone negotiating the job offer: Does this mean we still get to go to Disneyland? Yes, it does!
Friday, December 22, 2017
Weekend Reading: The Coming Out of the Whirlwind Edition
So... I have verbally accepted a job offer. The paperwork should arrive soon, but given the fact that most people are taking time off right about now, I might not get it signed and formalized until after Christmas. Still, it is a done deal, so I can tell people about it.
I will try to write a little more after Christmas about the job (a good fit work-wise, paying a little less than the last new job but with more flexibility and in a better location for me) and the weird experience of the last few weeks. For now, I'll just say, wow, that was a whirlwind experience. My December involved: starting a new job, losing that job along with all my colleagues, interviewing for a new new job, and getting that job. My head is spinning a bit.
But, let's get to the links!
In self-promo: if you're looking for a last minute gift, may I suggest an ebook gift card? I sell a printable gift card for all the Annorlunda Books via GumRoad. You select "Gift Card" as the purchase option, and download the gift card file instead of the ebook files. You print and fold the gift card into a cute little card with the book cover image on the front and instructions for how to get the ebook inside. You wrap up the card in a nice box and there's your gift!
Here's the blog version of a thread I did on who'd like each of the Annorlunda Books as a gift.
And now for the other links:
Josh Marshall's take on the new tax bill rings true to me. I honestly don't know what will happen to my taxes beyond knowing that this is certainly not a simplifying "reform" for me. I have tried a bit to figure it out, but I think I'll just have to wait and see. I think that because we are itemizers that live in a high tax state and have a pretty big mortgage, we'll end up paying more overall. But we'll never know unless we take the trouble to figure out our 2018 taxes under the old and the new rules, because of the change in my job situation.
We'll be OK, though, so my concerns are less for my own personal finances and more for the fact that we're already hearing talk of cutting Medicare and Social Security to "fix" the deficit that just got ballooned in the tax bill. I'm also worried for what the loss of the individual mandate will do to health insurance markets. I am feeling like I made the right decision when I decided to go back to having a "regular" job and the benefits from it.
A Mother Jones story about the hacking of climate scientists that looks a lot like the hacking around our election.
Rebecca Hamilton on the limits of "naming and shaming" and why some survivors of sexual assault and harassment choose not to publicly name the guilty.
This is a good post about the difficulties around discussing what actually happens to women.
Dean Winslow on how speaking his mind about our gun situation cost him a government position. For what its worth, I share his opinion that we should allow people to own and shoot weapons like the AR-15, but only at a gun range. I wish we could take up discussion of a sensible idea like this in our Congress. Instead, voicing an opinion that our current situation is ridiculous got Winslow's nomination put on indefinite hold.
Here's something I want to read but haven't had time to read yet.
Well, those are all downers. Sorry. Go read some nice fiction to feel better! Here's one of the stories recommended in the Inbox Stories that came out on Monday. It is sweet and happy and will make you smile.
Funny... AND a bunny!
I will try to write a little more after Christmas about the job (a good fit work-wise, paying a little less than the last new job but with more flexibility and in a better location for me) and the weird experience of the last few weeks. For now, I'll just say, wow, that was a whirlwind experience. My December involved: starting a new job, losing that job along with all my colleagues, interviewing for a new new job, and getting that job. My head is spinning a bit.
But, let's get to the links!
In self-promo: if you're looking for a last minute gift, may I suggest an ebook gift card? I sell a printable gift card for all the Annorlunda Books via GumRoad. You select "Gift Card" as the purchase option, and download the gift card file instead of the ebook files. You print and fold the gift card into a cute little card with the book cover image on the front and instructions for how to get the ebook inside. You wrap up the card in a nice box and there's your gift!
Here's the blog version of a thread I did on who'd like each of the Annorlunda Books as a gift.
And now for the other links:
Josh Marshall's take on the new tax bill rings true to me. I honestly don't know what will happen to my taxes beyond knowing that this is certainly not a simplifying "reform" for me. I have tried a bit to figure it out, but I think I'll just have to wait and see. I think that because we are itemizers that live in a high tax state and have a pretty big mortgage, we'll end up paying more overall. But we'll never know unless we take the trouble to figure out our 2018 taxes under the old and the new rules, because of the change in my job situation.
We'll be OK, though, so my concerns are less for my own personal finances and more for the fact that we're already hearing talk of cutting Medicare and Social Security to "fix" the deficit that just got ballooned in the tax bill. I'm also worried for what the loss of the individual mandate will do to health insurance markets. I am feeling like I made the right decision when I decided to go back to having a "regular" job and the benefits from it.
A Mother Jones story about the hacking of climate scientists that looks a lot like the hacking around our election.
Rebecca Hamilton on the limits of "naming and shaming" and why some survivors of sexual assault and harassment choose not to publicly name the guilty.
This is a good post about the difficulties around discussing what actually happens to women.
Dean Winslow on how speaking his mind about our gun situation cost him a government position. For what its worth, I share his opinion that we should allow people to own and shoot weapons like the AR-15, but only at a gun range. I wish we could take up discussion of a sensible idea like this in our Congress. Instead, voicing an opinion that our current situation is ridiculous got Winslow's nomination put on indefinite hold.
Here's something I want to read but haven't had time to read yet.
Well, those are all downers. Sorry. Go read some nice fiction to feel better! Here's one of the stories recommended in the Inbox Stories that came out on Monday. It is sweet and happy and will make you smile.
Funny... AND a bunny!
when you start eating healthy and taking care of yourself out of spite pic.twitter.com/qVTpJMSr8q— dirt prince (@pants_leg) December 20, 2017
And here's another bunny:
おはようございます☀️🐰— うさぎのモモ (@momo_rabbit1013) December 20, 2017
今日も良い日になりますように🎵🐰✨ pic.twitter.com/OfqzEowKPU
That's all for this week. Have a wonderful Christmas, if you celebrate! Enjoy the end of "Christmas songs in every store" season if you don't!
Sunday, December 17, 2017
A Walk on the Beach
I've been feeling a bit out of sorts. I know why: even though the new job only lasted for four days, I had a whole bunch of plans and hopes for what it would mean, both professionally and personally. It is only normal to mourn the loss of those. It is just inconvenient to be doing that right now, in the middle of the holiday season, which is so busy. Also, I am quite fortunate to have a good lead for another job already, but that has also made me busy, so that I haven't really had time to process my feelings about the lay off.
So last Thursday, I decided to take a walk on the beach. I didn't go in thinking I'd pick up shells: I was mourning, not celebrating. But there were so many sand dollars on the beach, I couldn't resist picking some up!
And then I realized, I did have things to celebrate. I'd released Both Sides of My Skin, and I'd gotten Inbox Stories up and running. Just because my plan for keeping my little publishing company running without ruining my family's finances didn't work out, that doesn't mean I shouldn't celebrate the successes of the company! So I picked up shells with abandon.
I wish I had more time to sort through my feelings, but right now, I don't. The kids are out of school, and we canceled their registration in the camp we'd planned to have them attend this week. They'll be home with me, except on Tuesday, when I have an interview (!) so Mr. Snarky will work from home to keep an eye on them.
I may not get the time to wallow in feeling sad about the lay off, and maybe that's for the best. Shit just happens sometimes, and there's nothing much to do but try to shrug it off and find a good plan B.
But then again, any excuse for more walks on the beach....
So last Thursday, I decided to take a walk on the beach. I didn't go in thinking I'd pick up shells: I was mourning, not celebrating. But there were so many sand dollars on the beach, I couldn't resist picking some up!
And then I realized, I did have things to celebrate. I'd released Both Sides of My Skin, and I'd gotten Inbox Stories up and running. Just because my plan for keeping my little publishing company running without ruining my family's finances didn't work out, that doesn't mean I shouldn't celebrate the successes of the company! So I picked up shells with abandon.
I wish I had more time to sort through my feelings, but right now, I don't. The kids are out of school, and we canceled their registration in the camp we'd planned to have them attend this week. They'll be home with me, except on Tuesday, when I have an interview (!) so Mr. Snarky will work from home to keep an eye on them.
I may not get the time to wallow in feeling sad about the lay off, and maybe that's for the best. Shit just happens sometimes, and there's nothing much to do but try to shrug it off and find a good plan B.
But then again, any excuse for more walks on the beach....
Friday, December 15, 2017
Weekend Reading: The Somehow Very Busy Even Without a Job Edition
I spent my week getting organized for my job search, and following up on a really strong lead. Oh, and trying to get ready for Christmas!
So this is going to be a short set of links, because despite being without a job, I was surprisingly busy this week.
In self-promotional links: I wrote a thread about giving the books I've published as gifts. Here it is in a news post form.
Monday, the second Inbox Stories newsletter comes out. This week's story is a great old story about a woman sea captain and a feud she ends up in. I also have two recommendations for great new stories, both of which feature strong women and magic. The recommendations link to the stories online, so even if you subscribe to the free edition, you'll find two great stories to read!
In other links:
New rule: read anything Rebecca Traister writes, particularly about gender. Her piece about how the "Weinstein moment" is more about work than sex is really good.
Jamelle Bouie talked to some Black voters in Birmingham, and it is worth your time.
Giant penguins!
My favorite podcast of the week: Majority 54 on public education.
Gen-X giggle:
This is really cool:
So this is going to be a short set of links, because despite being without a job, I was surprisingly busy this week.
In self-promotional links: I wrote a thread about giving the books I've published as gifts. Here it is in a news post form.
Monday, the second Inbox Stories newsletter comes out. This week's story is a great old story about a woman sea captain and a feud she ends up in. I also have two recommendations for great new stories, both of which feature strong women and magic. The recommendations link to the stories online, so even if you subscribe to the free edition, you'll find two great stories to read!
In other links:
New rule: read anything Rebecca Traister writes, particularly about gender. Her piece about how the "Weinstein moment" is more about work than sex is really good.
Jamelle Bouie talked to some Black voters in Birmingham, and it is worth your time.
Giant penguins!
My favorite podcast of the week: Majority 54 on public education.
Gen-X giggle:
TAKE MY TEARS AND THAT’S NOT NEARLY ALL pic.twitter.com/CWTt45dIqZ— FaintGlimmerofHopehat (@Popehat) December 8, 2017
This is really cool:
Ballet rotoscope by Masahiko Sato & EUPHRATES pic.twitter.com/aZ30VyGh7j— femme fatale (@eliesaaab) December 14, 2017
Stern bunny:
— うさぎ島の写真bot (@rabbit_isle_bot) December 14, 2017
And that's all I have this week. I'll try to do better next week!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)