Domo and I at a Cinco De Mayo Meetup, with a Domo hat!

2012 started as a year full of possibilities that were overshadowed by terrifying doubts. I was unemployed after finishing up a temp job at United Way in good standing. The job market was improving slightly, but it was still a recession. Two of my better friends in the northwest had to move away because of job woes. The lease on my apartment was expiring; suddenly, the questions disturbing my sleep ranged from how long could I live off my savings and meager unemployment; to where could I find roommates if I needed cheaper rent; to was living in Portland still even the right place for me? The flip-side, of course, is that finding roommates or taking on a promising new job or even living in a new town could all be exciting. I was nervous, but things turned around quickly. The doubts transformed into opportunities. 2012 transformed into a great year.

Instead of trying to weave together a narrative like I usually do, I thought the best way to reflect on this year would be to grade different aspects of my life and how I thought they turned out compared to my other years in Portland.

Career: A

We even had some snow in Portland!

To give you an idea where my expectations were at the beginning to the year: a 30-hour per week, $14 per hour job at a non-profit with limited benefits got me giddy with excitement. I considered there to be an above average chance that I’d be scrapping by with temp work until August, where I’d rejoin the seasonal United Way crew. Full-time jobs with benefits were the holy grail; nice to dream about, worth throwing my hat in the ring for, but lets be realistic. This is Portland. Rain and a crappy job market are the toll for living here. I knew that when I moved here.

This isn’t exactly a revolutionary sentiment, but I hate unemployment. When you live alone, being unemployed is a special kind of torture because you’re isolated from the daily interactions you’re used to. To quote South Park: “When you’re unemployed, weekends are meaningless.” I seriously considered taking on some menial contract work just to get out of the apartment in January. In this economy, I assumed I couldn’t turn down anything.

The work team on an off-site

Lesson for me: think larger.

As I refined my application strategy, I started getting more responses, and finally the breakthrough happened: Yahoo! in Hillsboro, working as a Media Delivery Coordinator. A full time job! Benefits! A job title that sounds impressive on LinkedIn! Since then, it’s turned better than I even hoped for.

For once, I’m not the youngest person in the office. My coworkers are mostly fellow twenty-somethings, which adds some fun to daily interactions and the occasional off-site. While I worried my light web development/marketing background wouldn’t apply, it’s been a great advantage for me. The work involves a great level of responsibility and challenge without feeling like the world is on my shoulders (ahem, most of the time). There are short bouts of repetition, but I’ve had much worse at other jobs.

This job offers stability, which is an enormous relief. There was a lay-off scare early in the year, but these days it looks much better. For most of this year, I’ve focused on adjusting and just enjoying having stable employment. As the new year starts, I’m going to be thinking much more critically about where to go from here.

Social Life: B

It was a satisfying year! I used the stability the job offered to explore new opportunities. Domo and I are well-known on the Meetup scene, and I’ve become better friends with many of the Meetup regulars. More signs of progress: I made a good friend around the apartment complex; I had a great kickball team this summer; and I spend more time with my coworkers outside of work than at past jobs.

Kickball team in Seaside!

Building a social network from scratch here in Portland was one of the most intimidating challenges I’ve ever faced. I’m an introvert at heart, but my life doesn’t feel complete if I’m not pushing myself to get out there and meet people. During my first year in Portland, I often felt anonymous. After a couple of years, I now feel like I’ve got a nice social network out here. It still doesn’t compare to Kansas City. Should it? Building intimacy and close friendships takes time. Sometimes I feel out of place in Portland.

As a sub-stratom of my social life, I’d give my dating something like a C-. I’m giving myself a harsh grade mostly because I’m trying to hold myself to a high standard. I’ve come a very long way in overcoming the shyness that gave me a reputation as “the quiet kid” back when I was young. Moving to Portland and building a social circle from scratch out here is testament to that. I take it for granted all the social situations I handle gracefully these days, but dating is an area which can bring out that old bashfulness. To make progress, I’ve got to push myself further out of my comfort zone.

That said: things were more interesting this year and some things may still develop. I just feel like I haven’t attacked this area with the assertiveness it deserves. Won’t be in my twenties forever!

Everything Else? B

Well, I moved to Beaverton and lost 20 pounds. At least one of those is good, right?

Beaverton remains a compromise but one that has served it’s function well. My commute is decent and on the weekdays I live in a very livable, convenient area. The weekends are a little more of a pain, but it’s nice that I live by the MAX line for trips downtown. It’s gotten me to many Meetups and a few farmer’s markets. I miss the East side quite a bit, though. My apartment is spacious and reasonably priced, but old. My lease expires in the summer. I’d like to move somewhere new, but I’m not sure where another good compromise would be.

I adapted a much healthier lifestyle this year! I used to be known for my slothful bachelorhood, but these days I’m eating apples and drinking green tea. What brought about the change? Some alarming weigh-ins early in the year were quite the wake-up call! Won’t be in my twenties forever! I guess even now my metabolism is slowing down from tremendous to just very good. I took up weight-lifting, got on a regular running schedule and tried to avoid high fructose corn syrup where possible. I overshot my goals. I have more energy and feel a little more confident.

In other news, I had a few nice trips out of Portland. I enjoyed seeing Room 312 graduate back in Lawrence, spending a weekend in Seaside with the kickball team, taking a road trip up to Seattle with my old friend Eric and a very nice week in Chicago with my family. More traveling is a goal of mine, but I’m not sure where that would fit in 2013. I also watched way too much Netflix and invested too many hours into Xenoblade Chronicles.

So another year on the books! 2012 was a good one for me. It was probably the best year of my life since the AmeriCorps days. I don’t have any bold resolutions to unveil. Another year like 2012 would suit me just fine. But I want to keep challenging myself and have an eye for the future!

Escape Domo! Great Costume at OMSI After Dark

We had a fantastic warm beginning to autumn here in Portland. August contained the rare couple of weeks where it’s actually too hot, but afterwards it settled into the kind of perfect autumn weather I remember in Kansas City-warm and comforting but with a certain briskness in the air. It carried me off into waves of nostalgia- Occupy protests last fall, my first few months in Portland, wistful nights in AmeriCorps, shuffling between classes at KU. Through September and into October, I was able to hold up my social schedule as well, hanging on to each moment of sunlight. But… the rain started on a Friday in mid-October, and it hasn’t let up since. This is Portland, after-all; there’s got to be a price for living in such a great town.

After the glorious summer, the last couple of months have been up and down. For one, the election was both exciting and nerve-wracking. My first two jobs post-college were stimulus-funded, so you can probably deduce my leanings and satisfaction with the outcome. Right after the excitement of that, though, some bad food poisoning  was a huge wake-up call. My formerly cavalier attitude towards expiration dates and some cooking habits are now long gone. It’s good for me to become more health-conscious, but it’s also a struggle sometimes to make sure the internet doesn’t drown me in hypochondria. I’ve made  that mistake before. WebMD and the average commenter on Yahoo! Answers is convinced I should be dead 20 times over. Regardless, I’ve glad this experience has given me a kick to the trinkets and motivation to right the ship. I’m still young, and my body can take a lot. I’ve improved a lot over the past year in this department. You’ll see me downing green tea and a apple each day, but I’m realizing more and more what I’ve taken for granted.

Eric visits Portland

There have been some visitors recently! First we had my old friend and former roommate Eric visit town in early October. During the final week of great weather, I had a great time showing him around classic Portland spots like the Rose Garden, Japanese Garden and one of the famous poetry slams at Backspace Cafe downtown. While I  couldn’t take much time off work, I still gave him a taste for our local cuisine. We hiked up to Seattle for his final weekend. It’s a fascinating place, reminding me of Portland but with a stronger big-city feel to it. My two favorite highlights of the trip were probably eating fresh salmon by the waterfront and a science fiction museum that included, among other things, a Dalek used in Dr. Who, Captain Sheridan’s uniform from Babylon 5 and the captain’s chair from the original Star Trek. Sometimes you forget how nerdy you are until this sort of thing gets you giddy with excitement.

Family visit over Thanksgiving

The second group of visitors was my family! They stayed at my place for Thanksgiving, and for the second year in a row we forewent a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for a meal at Andina Peruvian Cuisine. It was superb to say the least. Our other plans were more of a mixed success as we had to deal with illness- first my brother and then me coming down with colds. Despite this, though, we managed to fit in trips to Powell’s, buying an Ipad for Mom, McMenamin’s beer and perhaps the best James Bond movie I’ve  ever seen, Skyfall. The family had some critiques of my apartment, so the good news is that my place is looking a few levels cleaner and polished than before. Always good to see the family! I’m really looking forward to heading back to Kansas City for Christmas.

I wouldn’t mind some sun while I was there! I love Portland and see myself here for a little while yet, but wintertime always has me dreaming about moving to a warmer climate someday. My social schedule has taken a hit but still pushes on. I’ve been to a handful of roller and ice skating Meetups. Can’t say my skill will win much praise, but the company was good. A couple other highlights were an excellent Dracula musical, OMSI After Dark on Halloween (where the costumes were jaw-dropping) and most recently the Yahoo! Chirstmas Party. I’m notoriously reclusive about parties- considering my distaste for alcohol- but it was an impressive set-up and a handful of quality Domo picture. As you can see, I’m still pushing through and getting out there, but I’d be lying if I said the winter grey wasn’t slowing me down. The last few winters have kicked me around with employment woes, break-ups and nagging health issues. Between grey skies, colds and food poisoning, this winter is off to an inauspicious start, but I’m still hoping for a better draw. Regardless of where December takes me, it’s been a fantastic year, and I’m looking forward to reflecting on it in my next update.

The beach at Seaside

Hey there! It’s been awhile since my last update. In a soundbite: things are quite well! I’m six months into the job with Yahoo! and roughly five months into my life in Beaverton. In both cases, I’ve adjusted better than I could’ve hoped for. Outside of Portland, I’ve enjoyed a few vacations big and small. May brought me back to Kansas City to see off the Room 312 crew at graduation, I had a fantastic weekend with my kickball team out at Seaside in July and I’m not long removed from a wonderful family vacation in Chicago. Back in town, summer kickball has brought a lot of fun to my weekends while I continue to be a frequent sight on the Meetup circuit. And oh yes! Thanks to some healthier eating habits (I really had nowhere to go but up) and consistent exercise, I’m about 10 pounds slimmer. Being adjusted to the city and not having to panic about job-searching has really given me a chance to thrive.

Summer has been great, but spring, I admit, ranged from nice to awkward. Chilly weather stuck around until way into June. The job had a learning curve I was getting used to along with the seven others who started with me. I didn’t gel as well as hoped with my spring kickball team, who were part of the Recesstime league with aggressive pitching rules like high bounces. They were also way over on the east-side of Portland and required logging some miles on the old CRV. I was starting a new workout routine at the gym, and I was reading about five million pieces of advice about how you’re supposed to lift weights. When you start reading all this fitness advice, it makes you feel a little insecure!  I felt good about life, but there was still a sense that not everything was clicking into place.

Pizza Meetup in SE Portland

July, however, brought with it a string of fun weekends. I made some new friends and caught up with some old ones. The Japanese garden, another poetry slam, karaoke, pizza, an Iranian festival and an out-of-the-way Mexican food place highlight the last couple of months in Meetup action. Meetups continue to be one of my main avenues towards socializing and exploring Portland; to the point I sometimes wonder what I’d do without them! It really is the perfect way of using the internet to get off the internet. I’ve even been made an organizer now, though I’m waiting for a stroke of genius before I actually organize an event. I was so shy about Meetups when I first got to Portland, and now it’s crazy to think that a classic introvert like me is out there putting extroverts to shame.

Meanwhile in summer, the trip down to the coast with the kickball team was an incredible time- one of the best weekends since I came to Portland two years ago. This kickball team has been unique in that  instead of being composed of an established group of friends needing a few extra people, it was almost all strangers. There have been a lot of good times over the all-too-short season. When games were cancelled by rain, we went bowling over at Big Al’s in Beaverton, and I practiced with a couple of guys on a beautiful Sunday afternoon kicking the ball around and playing frisbee.

Kickball team in Seaside!

For a team that never could choose a name other than the default Indy Team #1, we became fiercely organized once we learned that our teammate had a beach house and was inviting us all down for the weekend. As you might expect from a bunch of young people spending a weekend in the same house, I bore witness to many drunk hi-jinx. Making s’mores by the fire made me absurdly happy. Seeing the beach at night was a sight I won’t soon forget. And, of course, once you get past the epic sunburn, it was an amazing time spending the day on the beach playing bocce, throwing around the frisbee and flying my kite.

The following weekend, of course, I was in Chicago. You can look at my short blog post on it, but to summarize: Chicago is one of those magnificent cities that fills you with awe and makes a town like Portland or Kansas City feel small. I visited family, saw the major sites, and I got to spend some quality time with Fabio, one of my very best friends, before he had head back to Peru.

It’s been a great summer and a great time in my life- probably one of the best stretches I can remember since the spring of my AmeriCorps year. Of course, true summer in Portland is short-lived. As we’ve already started to joke around here, the colder, rainy season is already starting to creep up on us. The days get a little shorter; the mornings are a little colder. I’m getting ready for the new season. With kickball over, I’m going to work harder at making plans with people, which can be very challenging for me. I want to keep some of this momentum strong in what is really shaping up to be a fantastic year.

Domo is proud of Fabio!

Domo and I had the enormous pleasure this past weekend of traveling home to Kansas City to witness the graduations of two of my best friends, Room 312 alums Fabio and Andy! I was  a super-senior the year they entered as freshman, so I’ve really had the chance to watch them develop over their college years. Andy has managed to keep his big, colorful personality intact while growing into a stronger, more assertive person. Fabio has adapted to this new country and culture so well that many times I’ve almost forgotten the enormous obstacles and challenges he’s had to overcome to get to this point, so far from home. As you can tell, I’m very proud of both of them, and I’ve never believed in anything so strongly as I do their futures.

Of course, it was mother’s day as well, and there aren’t enough words to describe what my mom has done for me in life. I was only in town for a few days, but I manged to squeeze in a couple gatherings of old friends, a trip to the aquarium, my first experience with Mahjong, the Avengers and some of the best Peruvian food you can imagine. Yes, Peruvian food! Fabio’s mother was visiting for the occasion, and her cooking should be famous.

That’s just the cliff notes version of a wonderful trip. May the pictures add a few thousand words.

Domo at the new apartment in Beaverton

It’s definitely been an eventful couple of months! After an arduous job search and a tiring apartment hunt, I’ve now settled into a great job at Yahoo! and a nice new apartment in Beaverton. It’s been an exciting and often exhausting transition. The decision to move to Beaverton in particular kept me pacing through circles of thoughts and indecisiveness for weeks. Suburbia? Will I really still have the ‘Portland’ experience? Etc. Starting a new job isn’t exactly a breeze either. However, as things are settling down a little, I find myself optimistic and confident about where I’m at and where I’m going.

Domo at Zelda Art Exhibit

Ever since I was laid off last June, life has been in a bit of a flux. United Way gave me a brief respite, but all along I knew I was soon to be thrust back into an unfriendly job market. So the questions floating over me for the past 8 months have usually been big ones like where will my next paycheck come from or will I even be living in Portland a couple of months from now or how am I going to find a roommate if all I can find is a part-time job. Pursuits like getting more exercise or dating or eating healthier were barely on the radar. As the transition to the new job and apartment is fading, though, it’s been nice to form a new routine and get to all these things I’ve been putting off. I’ve now got a gym membership, my dating situation is showing occasional signs of life and I’m attempting to cook a little more. I can focus on trying to get the most out of my weekends. The best part about having things settle down a little may just be that it exhausts my excuses about challenging myself.

Some recent exploits include trips to the zoo, the world’s smallest park, the PSU Farmer’s Market and a Legend of Zelda Art Exhibit; meanwhile some cool meetups have ranged from poetry slams to wine and cheese tastings to even a singles night. I’m writing to you from a new computer. With my 24-hour fitness membership only a couple weeks old, I’m already close to the best shape I’ve been in since last summer. For the near future, I’m looking forward to reuniting with my United Way friends at the Celebration for Caring banquet, learning some Flash development and visiting Kansas City next month to see two of my best friends graduate from college. I’m going to challenge myself to go out and meet people, especially when it comes to dating.

Whew! That’s life in a flash right now. As you can tell, I’m feeling pretty optimistic as the weather warms up.

The site in Hillsboro for the new job!

Whew! It was a pretty wild week. A couple of unexpected phone interviews, a couple of big in-person interviews and some tense waiting later, I received a big job offer from Yahoo in their Hillsboro office! The job involves supporting some of their online ad campaigns and is a nice combination of my technical web background and the people skills I displayed at United Way. And the timing couldn’t be better- especially after a shaky start to the new year.

My first day back in Portland was certainly a rough one. PDX welcomed me back with chilly, rainy, grey weather (while Kansas City is unusually warm). I had an uninspiring chat with a temp agency in Beaverton. Two of my better friends in the area (fellow Kansans!)  informed me that they had to make a sudden move to Texas. My apartment was a cold, neglected mess (granted I usually don’t mind about the neglected mess part). And a once-promising romantic prospect didn’t seem to be going anywhere fast. Thanks, Portland- I missed you too. :P

We even had some snow in Portland!

Basically… I started 2012 with no job, no girlfriend and a month-to-month lease in one of the country’s most infamous job markets. I don’t really thrive on that kind of uncertainty. For a couple days, I felt bummed out about being dropped back into reality after spending a fun Christmas break surrounded by supportive friends and family in KC. Now: finances were tricky, my social life was scattered and the job hunt hadn’t exactly become a freight train yet.

In general, I find job searching to be mostly stressful with occasional bursts of excitement. This isn’t my first rodeo with the great recession, but the perpetually crummy job market still adds an under-layer of anxiety. As I talked about in my last big job search, turning down any job prospect- no matter how un-ideal- feels like high-stakes gambling in the 99% era. Getting a full-time gig like Yahoo! was my best-case scenario, but I was more than prepared to take part-time or temporary work. A temp office assistant job came up a couple of weeks ago, and I was a nervous wreck trying to decide where I stood on just a tiny month-long gig. It didn’t seem like a good fit, but with the job market the way it is and the fact I just can’t stand being unemployed, part of me just wanted to take whatever I could I get whenever I could get it.

It’s a good thing I passed on it, though, because just a couple days later I got some big responses on resumes! After an uninspiring first half of my job search, I changed the way I was submitting applications. Instead of just tweaking my resume for each position, I completely tailored them to the job description including borrowing many specific phrases. My assumption was that the resume would be read by a machine before it was read by a person, and so if I could do a little bit of modest keyword stuffing, I could pass through the gate and stand a better chance. And it looks like my strategy has been validated. I got three responses from three large companies. Now it was time… for interview mode.

Domo and I at New Years. Interview attire was a little less silly.

I usually interview pretty well, but I bombed a phone interview for a contract position with Nike in December, shaking my confidence a little. To be fair, the job description and the actual job seemed to be in different universes for that one, so I never quite got my footing. What bothered me more, though, was I was really stiff- so obsessed with appearing professional that I stomped out my personality. Heading into this interview season, I wanted to allow a little room to be me and show I could be a fun yet professional person to work with. With two interviews coming up, I had a very long weekend to prepare and for anticipation to build.

The first interview was with a healthcare company downtown being the web content writer and general website guy for their marketing team. As I waited outside for the interview to start, my nerves were in knots, but I knew how to handle it. After doing public speaking and meeting one-on-one with coordinators all the time with United Way, I was familiar with my nerves getting worked up and how I usually did well anyway. Once I started talking about my background, the narrative was easy to connect. The great success of the Kansas City Beehive as a VISTA, the technical bona-fides of my time with One Economy and the people skills I brought to the United Way job became a 1-2-3 punch that could handle just about anything they could throw at me. It was a fun interview; sometimes you just know when you’ve given someone the answer they were looking for.

The next day was the big Yahoo! interview, but by now I was warmed up and ready to go. This one was a 2+ hour marathon interview with 6 different people. A little ways in, I felt relaxed and like myself. I was professional, but could still tell some jokes and be friendly. I left that day feeling good. I really liked what I’d heard about the job, enjoyed who I interviewed with and could see myself fitting in with the culture there (the meeting rooms are named after old cartoon shows. One is the My Little Pony Room). If I didn’t get one of these jobs, you couldn’t say it was because of the interviews. And just like that, the big job offer landed on Friday.

Domo attends a Bouldering Meetup!

I start mid-February, so I’ve got a little time to focus on other things. Socially, I’ve tried to get out to Meetups as much as I could so I wasn’t too cooped up in the apartment. A few of these were pretty memorable like a trip to the Oregon Historical Society, a tour through the Bonneville Dam in the Gorge and my first experience bouldering. I went out and did some volunteering during MLK weekend, and I’m doing Thursday night dodgeball. Also, I’m three weeks into a class on learning SQL and Database Administration. Overall, I’ve done an OK job of keeping myself busy.

One of my other resolutions this year was to do more dating. Job interviews: no problem. Asking for a girl’s phone number: OH GOD! Over the last few months, it’s fallen behind job searching in my priorities, but it’s about time I put myself out there a little more. When your birthday is Valentine’s Day, it can feel like you’re working on a deadline. Meanwhile, I’ve got some apartment hunting to do to find a place closer to Hillsboro.

So wow, this is 2012! Now that I’ve got a job, I hope the world doesn’t end.

Domo gets caught up in beautiful Portland Rhododendrons!

As I spend a few quiet weeks in Kansas City for the holidays, I’ve had some time to reflect over the past year. Of almost everything that’s happened, there’s been one common thread: it’s almost all been VERY Portland. Giant waterfalls, biking around, food carts, brunches, adult kickball leagues, Occupy protests, naked bike rides, chocolate tours, trips to the coast… it feels like I’ve been wandering from one Portland spectacle to another. 2011 was the year I felt like a true Portlandian.

Domo visits the Beard and Mustache Competition in January. Very Portland.

Arriving back in August of 2010, I felt pretty anonymous for those first few months. I finished the year with a loose network of acquaintances around town, but I really struggled to meet anyone I’d call friends. I came back home for the holidays that year decidedly ambivalent: my career was sorted out for once, but the loneliness was getting to me. I saw all my old KC friends, though, and it really inspired me. I wanted to have that kind of friendship in my new city! At least I was resolved to do whatever I could.

Granted, 2011 started with mixed results. Efforts to reach out to some acquaintances fizzled, but around the same time I attended some promising Meetups, including some really friendly brunches with the Portland New In Town group. I signed up for a dodgeball league, got some people interested in the Badass Gourmet Society of Portland- things were looking up.

But then in early February… my whole world came to a halt with the sudden loss of Micia. It completely tore me apart. She was my first love, and the person who showed me levels of emotional openness and acceptance I never thought I was a capable of with another person. Even a year after our relationship, we remained good friends. Trying to center myself through the pain and confusion of loss, I had to make the decision of a last minute plane flight back to Kansas City to attend the celebration of her life. Speaking at the celebration and seeing all my supportive friends gave me the sense of closure and peace that I needed. Coming back to Portland, it still took me some time to ease back into the old routine.

Micia and I. I'll never forget

Heading into March and April, Portland stayed chilly and rainy. Still, I managed to meet quite a few people through Meetups, dodgeball, work, and the shaky start to the Badass Gourmet Society of Portland. I finally felt like my social life in Portland was taking off. As the weather warmed up, I even enjoyed a visit from one of my best friends, Julia! Now I was a Portland tour guide of all things. We managed a squeeze in so much Portland in so few days we were both exhausted- local beer, local brunch, a road trip to the coast, waterfalls in the Gorge, food carts, Powell’s, rhododendrons. It was one of my favorite times of the past year!

Adding to my Portland cred, I finally bought a bike. And further adding to my Portland cred, I got my first bike injury about a week later. Aw yes, my tire got caught in the Max tracks and I was derailed with a sprained ankle for almost a month. It seems like everyone in Portland has a sprained ankle story. By June I was back on my feet, getting ready for a visit from the family and even doing a little dating. Things were going pretty smoothly. Had I finally really settled into a job and a routine? Not quite…

Domo at Crater Lake

June was the big lay-off. It’s one thing to be laid-off without expecting it, but it’s quite another for it to happen in this economy with copious news reports of people struggling. Thankfully, my family was in town that week and took me on a refreshing vacation to the coast, Eugene and Crater Lake. Coming back, I went through phases of panic and relief before settling into the job search. It actually was pretty nice to have the time off during the amazing weather. Portland is PERFECT over the summer, and the freedom to bike around town trying different food carts helped counteract the job anxiety. As for the job market, there’s no denying it was rough. In general, it felt like applying for full-time positions was like lobbing resumes into trash compacters, but I actually had some good response on part-time and temporary positions. I can deal with that. I also took some time over the summer to get out of the apartment and do a couple of kickball leagues. I spent some great afternoons practicing with my first team and mastering some double-dutch jump rope.

And yes, this year we lost Domo the First. He was captured by the Canadiens during my visit up to Vancouver, BC. It was a tough loss, but the first Domo’s journeys will never be forgotten. Meanwhile, Domo the Second has stepped up to the role admirably. He may not  have been to many states yet, but he was a huge hit at United Way and a small celebrity at Occupy Portland. A new era has truly begun.

Occupy Portland! It was an interesting fall.

Around August, I landed the United Way job, and I had a ton of fun driving around the city this fall raising money for charity. It taught me a little bit more about the type of job I want to have and what it means to work for a cause I really care about. The lay-off sucked big time, but in the end, I feel like I’m in a stronger position now than even if I’d stayed with One Economy until the end of my contract. I’ve now stared into the job abyss once before and I have an idea of what’s difficult, what’s over-hyped and some strategy for dealing with it. I doubt I’ll be the type who sends out thousands of resumes for a couple of years and can’t find work. However, landing something temporary or part-time seems fairly likely.

So it’s been a fun year with plenty of ups and downs. For now, I’m back in Kansas City for the holidays seeing some friends, sleeping in and sending out a few job applications. I’m at another of those exciting and intimidating crossroads. Will I be job-searching for months? Will I continue bouncing between temporary jobs and end up back at United Way next fall? Might I even defy the odds and land a good full-time gig? All I can do is get back in town and attack it the best I can! If now is an uncertain time for me, that mirrors where our country stands these days. With Tea Parties and Occupy protests buzzing about, it feels like our society is tearing apart at the seams sometimes. I follow it all pretty closely. The uncertainty and political paralysis is unnerving, but the push for political reform can sometimes be genuinely inspriring. Like with the job search, it’s hard not to lower your expectations, but at the end of the day, you’ve just got to keep pushing.

I love Portland, and I plan to stay there in 2012 unless the jobs picture is completely hopeless. I want so much to spend another summer in the beautiful weather, biking around town trying food carts, to try out hiking, finding someone to explore with. I found some friends this year, but I’m still struggling to form the kind of deep friendships I want in my life. Yes, I occasionally suffer from “hipster fatigue”, but it’s a great culture to be young in. So 2012? Well, I hope it’s another good ride!

Domo occupies Portland!

Today was perhaps one of the last beautiful days of weather we’ll see in Portland before the perpetual rains begin. With November coming, I once again feel like I’m at a crossroads. Really, I’ve been at a crossroads ever since the big lay-off in June, but for the last couple of months, I’ve been enjoying a sweet respite and focusing on my work at United Way. Good news: I really enjoy the job! I’ll be sad to leave come December. When I applied and accepted the position, I thought I was taking a huge gamble and that the extroverted nature of it would be too much. Quite the opposite, my friends! Like the more hectic times during my AmeriCorps year, I find this job challenging without being too overwhelming. That mix is hard to find.

Back at the office

It’s an exciting but unnerving time to be young, as I think you can see from the Occupy protests sweeping the country. I don’t engage people in political debate too much. I’m a cautious liberal like Obama, casting a skeptical eye and attentive ear to both sides of the political spectrum. Some days I’ll read ‘social justice’ leftist blogs and and not long afterwards listen to right wing talk radio with a morbid sense of curiosity. It’s amazing how people live in different worlds, how easily they build straw men to tear down, how quick they are to hate “society” (whatever that really means). There’s plenty of criticism to go around about government bureaucracy and big corporations; but I worry that neither the Occupy movement or the Tea Party fully understand their targets.

You’ll have to forgive the political statement. I’m actually very sympathetic to the Occupy movement, and I’ve been following it closely. I think that cynicism is easy; it’s pragmatism that’s difficult. So camping out and blaming the system doesn’t do much for me, especially when stereotypical hippies (Fox News bait) come out in force. That’s why I dismissed them at first, but I warmed up to the movement after reading the 99% Tumblr. It’s hard not to get swept up in the class anger. For the past months, I’ve been making frequent visits over to Occupy Portland, observing its evolution from a quirky protest to a (mostly) self-sufficient village right outside my old One Economy office.

Chicken suit man at Occupy Portland!

You really see this evolution in the Domo photos I took of the event. On the first day I found all sorts of wacky costumed characters to pose Domo with, from a grown man dancing around in a chicken costume to a pig donning a gas mask and a sign. I came back during the weekend hoping to find a similarly ripe stockpile of Domo photos to take. What I found instead was a battalion of tents set up across two parks. Larger tents provided different social services like a library, healthcare, info, food and sanitation. More themed tents popped up as I kept visiting. These included media/communications, art, labor, war veterans, and even an engineering tent. The denizens of the camps evolved too, from mostly young and colorfully dressed hipsters to a growing homeless and street kid population. As someone who studied group dynamics in college, I’ve been positively enthralled watching these groups interact.

Domo visits Zombie Walk

Occasionally the more organized campers come off as sanctimonious revolutionaries, but I actually admire them quite a bit. I don’t think the encampments themselves will necessarily lead to substantive policy changes, but whether they get broken up tomorrow or not, they’ll be seen or remembered as a powerful symbol. It may be the people outside the camp, sympathizing with the cause, seeing the great inequality; that this larger group of observers will be the ones to really push politics in a more reasonable direction. But…who knows? I’m cleaning up my resume, and getting ready to head back out into the cold job market. I’m hoping that in a couple of years, I’ll be able to tell people, “Hey, I survived the great recession!”, opposed to still being in it. I’m one of the lucky ones, I guess. If I wasn’t… you may have found me setting up a tent in front of city hall.

In other news, like my career, life is in a little bit of a flux right now. My plan for my mid-twenties isn’t terribly ambitious. I want to find work where I can, meet new friends, stay in touch with old friends, and look for love and new experiences. Portland is wonderful for all these except maybe the work part. Whether I like it or not, 2012 will be a new chapter, and I’m going to kick it off with a spirited job search and a hunt for roommates. For now, I continue to do the occasional Meetup, seek out the latest Portland quirks (zombie walk!), and I even go on a date here and there. As I said, it’s not an ambitious plan, but I feel pretty good about things.

Domo the First Visits Vancouver, B.C - His Final Voyage

The tectonic plates of my life have been shifting for the last few months, and I finally have a calm moment to comment on the landscape.

First, yes, the original Domo plush…has been lost. His final picture was atop an anchor by the Vancouver, B.C Maritime Museum. A combination of wind and loading up a heavy backpack with my camera provided the absent mindedness to realize that Domo wasn’t with me. I returned to the spot 30 minutes later in a rush to find him gone. I searched frantically, but eventually even I had to concede the loss. It’s been difficult to move on since the original Domo meant a lot to me, and I’ve been plenty hard with myself already. Some moments you’d rather not relive. Domo the First will not be forgotten. He was with me through a lot of major life transitions- from graduating college, to my VISTA year, to the big move to Portland. I feel like I may be approaching another one of those big transitions soon.

Domo the First's last picture

However! Domo the Second has arrived and reminds me very much of Domo the First in his early days. And lets not forget Professor Domo, the Domo Twins, Lady Domo, or Big Domo! What started with Domo the First continues on ceaselessly towards greatness!

The rest of trip to Vancouver, B.C was an interesting experience. Canada felt a bit like America with different money. Hostels were uncomfortable but cheap. The scenery was beautiful. Amtrak was a nice way to travel. To be honest, I don’t see myself traveling alone much in the future because, even before losing Domo, it was a lonely experience. This trip was my excuse to finally see Canada. Glad I did it (minus the Domo loss), since it certainly was memorable, but for me, I need travel to involve people in future.

I returned home to the start of the seasonal United Way job, which as I anticipated, is an invigorating challenge. As a natural introvert, a sales-type job pushes me beyond my comfort zones in ways I appreciate- and for an organization I’m motivated to go there for. My nerves still jump around sometimes, but each time I overcome them is a fantastic feeling. I really like it, though. Once again, my work and my principles match up. I also enjoy taking a short breather from the job hunt. Don’t worry, though, I’m not relaxing too much.

Domo the Second is born! What adventures await?

The future feels exciting but more uncertain than ever. Come 2012, will I stay in Portland? Would I move to another part of the country? Kansas City and Lawrence still have the majority of my close friends, but at least three of them are gearing up for grad school within the next year.  For the short term, the plan is to stay here in Portland… and we’ll see. I like it here, but I don’t feel rooted quite yet. Maybe it’s best I shouldn’t.

Socially, things continue to move up and down in waves. Every couple of months I try to rustle together the Badass Gourmet Society of Portland, which is the most trouble you’ll ever see someone go through to get a few people together to hang out. Still, usually it makes for fun times and conversation. I’ve made some friends off OkCupid here and there, though my dating life has still been pretty quiet. Meetups continue, and I’d like to do a few light hikes. Kickball was really fun while it lasted. I’m considering another kickball league come fall. Overall, I’ve got friends spread out all across Portland, but it’s been tough for me to really develop those close, meaningful friendships. Those take time for anyone, I guess.

So here’s to Domo the Second! A new era begins with new challenges and new reasons for joy.

Domo and I took some time off the job search to play some kickball!

So it’s official: I’ll be gainfully employed for the rest of the year. I accepted a temporary position with United Way this week.

A month and a half into unemployment, this week was shaping up to be a benchmark for a couple of reasons. For one, August means that severance from my last job is no longer in effect and my sole revenue becomes unemployment. Unemployment provides just enough to pay rent and cover utilities, but I’d be bleeding money slowly for food and other expenses. True, I was prepared for this with plenty of rainy day savings, but unlike our government, I feel very uncomfortable running a budget deficit (oh snap?). Secondly, I awaited responses on a few jobs this week that I’d started the interview process for- representing the first big push of the job hunt season. One was temporary, one was temp-to-hire, and the other was part-time.

I interviewed for the temp-to-hire position with a marketing group down in the suburbs earlier in the week. I was a bit worried going in that I may like their job too much. You see, last week I interviewed for the United Way position- an organization who tops my list of places I’d love to work. The United Way position itself, though, involves fund-raising and fits a little awkwardly in my career narrative of web development and marketing/communications. Also, the job deals with public speaking and a lot of personal interaction with clients. I find that kind of work to be very challenging but possibly rewarding for an introvert like myself. It’s tempting to find a job like my last one where I could hide behind a desk all day. It was easy, sure, but occasionally I felt nostalgic for my days back at LINC where (ironic since I was an un-firable AmeriCorps VISTA), occasionally a project came along that pushed what I was capable of. Still, most jobs I apply for recently are of the desk-job variety.

One of the companies I interviewed with down in Tualatin

So what if I liked the marketing job too much? What if I got both offers at once!? I’d be put in a difficult situation. Working for an organization that matches my principles vs. working at a job that matches my skills/career path? Hmmm…it’s probably wishful thinking that I’d get more than one offer, of course. It reminds of me of when I was once messaging 3 girls at once on OkCupid, and I started running scenarios where they all wanted to be my girlfriend. How could I handle turning one of them down!? As it turned out, two of them I never ended up meeting, and I became friends with the other girl after a mediocre date (we became dodgeball teammates!). But I digress…

As it turned out, the temp-to-hire marketing interview was disappointing, so crisis averted. Is it a bad sign when the job you’re interviewing for is across from a cemetery? I thought they were looking for a technical writer with HTML experience, but as it turned out they just needed someone to fill out order forms. The interviewer worried that I was overqualified and would get bored. That took me aback; I’d come in armed to fight in the other direction, and worse, I secretly agreed. It’s like going on a date and the other person saying “Aren’t you too attractive to go out with someone like me?” It’s both very disappointing softened by being somewhat flattering.

Domo attends a Meetup to get out of the apartment some

Anyhow, I’ve enjoyed my little summer break. It’s ending just as I was starting to adapt to it better. Living alone requires me to be more assertive in making social plans, but it adds another level when there isn’t an office to walk into Monday-Friday. I’ve met a cool group of people through an adult kickball league, and also I’ve been out and about on the Meetup circuit. I’m considering Toast Masters, especially since my new temporary job involves public speaking. With my last week of unemployment, perhaps a little road trip up to Canada is in order. Lately, I’ve been stuck on traveling. I don’t want to travel alone but I’m a little hesitant to dive into the world of couch-surfing. A friend suggested staying in a hostel, which may be the right compromise. I want to take a little more proactive approach to life lately. I get a little tired of the “Seize the Day” cliches we all pay lip service too (a rant for another time); but sometimes I really do want to take some initiative to go out and do something memorable.