I think I am getting sick again. Last night when I was home I started to feel like I was getting a sore throat and this morning I woke up congested. I decided to try to fight whatever this is with some Zicam. I am eating the chewable tablets which have a nasty after taste but people swear by this stuff so every three hours I am eating this Bubble Gum looking tablets. I wanted to finish organizing my stuff but I ended up going to bed like around 10ish and kept waking up every two hours or so. I am dragging today.
I am meeting up with an old coworker tonight who I haven't seen since probably 2000. I used to work with her back when I was in high school and then she visited me while I lived in SoCal. She is now divorced and living in the Peninsula and she found me through LinkedIn. It will be nice to catch up with her and see what has been going on with her the past few years. We are meeting at a sushi place in Pacifica and I am really looking forward to discovering new places in the area.
It's seems like everyone and their mom is on Facebook. Thankfully my mom is still enjoying hi5 and hasn't heard of Facebook. I have a love/hate relationship with the site. It's been great with keeping in touch with family & friends and finding people that I lost touch with. My gripe with this site is that it's almost like Myspace were the number of "friends" you have matters. Why do people that I went to high school/college add me when we didn't even talk back in the day? I mean, if we didn't talk in the past, what makes you think we talk now? And if I do confirm our "friendship" and leave you a message, it would be nice for you to acknowledge me. After all, aren't you adding me to your list because you are interested in keeping in touch with me? Minor rant and I am over it.
Realized last night that I can't even properly heat water and no, I didn't burn it J I was going to make some tea using my tea kettle and loose leaf tea. I thought I left the water get hot enough but when I tried the tea, it tasted crappy. I let the tea steep for about 5 minutes which is what is recommended for this type of tea. Arianne suggested a tea accessory so I may look into it. It's all about trial and error, right? This weekend I may go to a tea lounge in SF and check out their tea & their recommendations.
When I woke up this morning, one of the songs I heard while getting ready was Jill Scott's "Golden". Today, I truly felt like I was living life like it's golden.
Tomorrow morning is moving day. I can now finally say that I am a San Francisco resident. It may not seem like such a big deal but for me, it has been one of my goals to live here and I have finally gotten here. I can now check off an item on my life list. There is just something magical about this city. I look forward to exploring the city and having a fabulous time while I live here. I have always considered myself a city girl. I grew up Mexico City until the age of 10 and then moved to a small town where everyone knows each other. That is so not my thing. I like to be anonymous and not have everyone up in my business. That is why I loved living in SoCal when I was 18-19 because no one knew me. I could go to the grocery store and not worried that I may run into someone who knows me and gossips about the fact that my hair was messed up that day. J
When I got to my mom's house last night, I mentioned to her that I had picked up the keys to my new place. She looked at me and there were tears in her eyes. I asked her what was wrong and she said that she didn't think that I would be moving back out again so soon. She said that she enjoyed seeing me every day and she is going to miss that. I sat down and told her that I am only 30 minutes away and that being almost 30 (gulp!) that I needed to be on my own. When I lived in the Valley, I probably called her every day even if it was a 2 minute conversation and told her that I would do that again. My mom went from living her parent's house with 12 siblings to being married to my dad and having my sister & me. I don't think she knows what it is like to be on her own and that saddens me because I know that my sister will move out soon enough, perhaps next year, and I worry for my mom. I was trying to reassure her that just because I was going to be living on my own didn't mean she wasn't going to see me. I told her that I would commit to having Wednesday night dinners with her and my sister every week. I could drive to their house every other week and they could come up to my place too. I was trying to make her feel better and I didn't want to feel guilty for wanting to be on my own. I know that I shouldn't feel guilty but I also don't want my mom to be sad.
My sister is going to help me unpack and I am very grateful for that. My mom has plans that day and will catch up with us later on. Fortunately, it's a three day weekend so I will have plenty of time to get my place in order before going back to work on Tuesday. Comcast is coming by on Sunday to set up my internet connection. I decided that I won't be getting cable for several reasons – most of the shows I watch are available online for FREE; I am trying to work keep a budget and actually have a healthy savings account; when I lived in the Valley I was watching way too much TV just because I could and finally with going back to school, I won't have time to watch all the shows I used to watch so why spend the money.
The owner of the building where I will be living is this tiny older Chinese lady who cracks me up. She seems very motherly and really quirky. When I first saw the place, I started to cough so I put a cough drop in my mouth. She asked me if I had a cold and I told her that I had been sick in the beginning of the year and that I just now have a cough every so often. She told me not to eat sugar, drink lots of tea and to not eat any candy or gum because that would make me cough. When I saw her yesterday to pick up the keys, she asked me if I had eaten candy or gum and if I was drinking enough tea. I couldn't help but smile.
I have a new apartment.... yay! Sending these pictures from email so I am not sure how the formatting will work. More details later...
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I am almost half way through the book. If you haven't read the book or heard his lecture, I highly recommended.
This past week I had what Oprah calls an "Aha Moment". At least, the first I heard of this was from watching her show a couple of years ago. I have come to realize that I am one of those people that while I am good at what I do, I don't enjoy it one bit. In fact, I really dislike what I do but because it helps me pay the bills and I have the ability to do it, I continue working in that field.
Let me back up a bit as my thoughts are all over the place. For the past year or so, I have had an internal battle with myself as to what I want to do with my life and my career. I have documented some of those feeling on this blog. I have been working in the banking industry since 1996. I have had a handful of other jobs while I went to school in Southern California but most of my work experience has been in banking. I have worked in most every department learning different skills and learning how a bank works. I have worked in 3 different banks - one for 8 years, one for 2 years and recently started a new job with an international bank. Right now, I have an hour plus commute and during this time, I have been listening to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks. In the beginning of January, I was watching Oprah's "Best Life Week" series since I was home sick. One of the days was dedicated to how happy you were with your career and your path in life. One of the guests was Marcus Buckingham who is a career coach. I listened half way to what he was saying because I was on medication and fell asleep. However, from what I did hear while I was awake, I connected with so I went on the website and decided to see if the show was online. The show was not online however there was an 8 part series podcast of a class he mentored to about 22 people including Oprah. Even Oprah herself isn't satisfied with her life at times. Go figure!
I have been listening to the 8 part series on my commute and I was listening to women from all ages and stages in life talking about how unfullfilled they feel with their life. Some of these women are successful people who most of us would think are happy with their life but they aren't. One of the things that struck me was that Marcus started talking about how most parents if their child comes home with the following grades (A,A,B,C,F) that they would tend to give the F the attention. All of the women on the panel agreed and he said that it was wrong. He said that parents should pay attention to the A's to see what was working for their kid to excel in those classes. Perhaps it was the teaching method of the teacher, the environment of the class or maybe that was a subject that the child had no interest in. He said that parents should try to find out what is it about the A classes that the kids enjoy and try to incorporate that into the classes were the kids were not excelling. I started thinking about my childhood and when I was a kid. I wasn't a straight A kid but did get pretty good grades. However, I remember if I brought home a grade C and below, I would get talked about it by my parents. I know that my parents wanted me to excel but there are things that we are good at and some that we aren't. For example, the area were I lacked interest were English (mostly literature) and history. I disliked having to read and interpret what I had read. I struggled with it quite a bit in high school and college. I have always enjoyed math, computers & technology and did really well in those classes. Focusing on your weaknesses doesn't stop there. As an adult, when you have a performance review, most supervisors tend to focus more on areas for improvement rather than trying to find out why you are excelling in other areas and using that to further your career and increase your worth to the company.
I vividly remember sitting in my high school counselor's office talking about declaring a major on my college applications. At 17, how can anyone be expected to know what they want to do with their rest of their life? I remember telling her that I didn't want to go into the computer/technology field because it was something that I enjoyed and if it became my life's work, then I wouldn't enjoy it anymore. I decided to go into Business Administration as it seemed broad enough for me. In hindsight, I should have explored other areas before commiting to a set major.
I didn't stay down in Southern California for long but when I returned to the Bay Area, I didn't really want to go to school. Part of me didn't know what it is that I wanted to do. I decided to see if there was employment at the bank were I had worked in during high school and there was an opening for a utility position. I thought that I would only be there for 2 years tops. That turned into 8 years. However, I did not stay in the same position for that long. I moved within the company and the only reason I left was because there were no other opportunities for advancement. I relocated to another bank and worked there for two years. I decided that the area where I lived was not for me after a year of being there and actively looked to come back to the Bay Area. I am now back here and I am not satisfied. I am happy to be back near family and friends but while listening to the podcasts I realized that I DISLIKE what I do on a daily basis. Right now, my title is AVP, Resident Internal Auditor for the Northern California region of (bank name). I am in charge of making sure that the branches and departments in the Northern California region are in compliance with the policies and procedures set by the bank and that are in compliance with the state and federal regulators. How boring does that sound? Even reading it I am trying not to fall asleep. Don't get me wrong. I am good at what I do but I don't enjoy it. I find it completely boring to read policies and procedures and make sure processes are done the right way. I work in a very regulated industry and in my job, there is black & white and that is it.
Going back to the Marcus Buckingham podcasts, he says that we should do what we enjoy and focus on our strenghts. Focus on what makes you feel good and what leaves you feeling fulfilled. Working in the banking industry only feeds my bank account. I don't find it challenging, motivating or fun. On my drive home that day, I realized that I need to focus on what I am good at and what I enjoy. In looking back at my career and personal life, the things that I enjoy doing is helping people. For example, when I joined the Internal Audit department years ago, I joined not because I wanted to be an auditor but because the bank needed my help with a project. That is how I ended up working for that department. In my jobs, I have always been the one to help people whether it be with a project, working on company event's, being part of focus groups, etc. With my friends, I am the one that likes to organize showers for them (whether it be wedding or baby), on their birthdays I like to make those that I care about feel special on their special day, or if they need someone to talk to, I am there to offer if only a shoulder to cry on. With my family, I am the older sibling and when something happens, I am the one that seems to put on the hat of making sure everyone is taken care of. I am not asked to do any of these things. It's my instinct to do so and I enjoy it. So why not use this skill to work for me? But how do I do that?
This is something that will require critical thinking on my part. I am not looking for a job that will make me millions. I am looking for a career in which I will wake up every day and be happy to go to work. One that helps me pay the bills, lets me maintain a healthy savings account and gives me some fun money to spend on a trip every now and then. That is what I want. And that is what I will get. I am not sure where I am going to find this career but I plan on working at it. It won't be easy because more than likely I will have to start all over again in a new industry but it will be worth it. I think that going back to school and finishing my degree, it will help me in figuring out my path. A field that I have thought of is human resources. I like the idea of being someone people can talk to and hopefully help them achieve their goals. I think companies often forget that their employees are their greatest assets. I think that people find it easy to talk to me and I want to use this skill to my advantage. At the end of the day, I would like to make an impact on someone's life.
MyFitnessPal - Nutrition Facts For Foods
