Day 17: Rest and Restoration

OakMonster.com - Braised Chicken and Baby Artichokes

5 Thoughts For those of you who are new to this blog, and to my life. Here’s a little background about my post-stress decompression. After a period of high stress, once everything is done, like this past week, my body gives up. It crashes into a heap of low fever, utter exhaustion, and major case of the munchies. Blog. Eat. TV. “Are you the Keymaster?” Nap. Today’s Photo As tired as I was, cooking does make me happy. So I made the braised chicken recipe I tested for work on Day 1 of this challenge. Delicious! Breakfast English Breakfast tea....
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Counting my 2013 Blessings

OakMonster - Team Wicket and Animal

I know I usually do a 2013 recap here with all of my high points and low points of the year. 2013 has been a year of great things. You could say it might have been one of the best years of my life. So, instead of the usual recap, I’d like to actually, literally, count my blessings. Blessing #1: A Permanent Job Since I moved on from the last permanent job in 2011, I was freelancing for about 12 months of the 24 years of being unemployed.  My last temp assignment was to Frieda’s Specialty Produce.  It was supposed...
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Work Is Love Made Visible

OakMonster.com - Work Is Love

Remember how I ran home from the Office about a month ago?  Well, running home is no longer an option.  My hours have been extended to 6 hours a day now, and that would mean I have to run home after lunch. There was no way I could do that with my issue with side stitches, and I wasn’t about to starve myself all day for a run. The key point from that paragraph is that I am now working 6 hours a day. At that same company. I’m 2 hours away from working full time, y’all. This gig was...
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Taking a Leap: One Year Later

Today is the first anniversary of my not having a full-time job. And what a year it has been!  I started it with 2 weeks in New Zealand, connecting with my cousins and traveling with my dad. (And I still don’t have all of the pictures up online yet!)  Then for a few months, I tried my hands at being my own boss and found that I had much to learn.  A few odd jobs later, with a lead from my friend Matt, I landed at Saatchi LA and found a workplace I have been searching for.  That 4-week contract...
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2011: An Oakley Odyssey

It’s about gone, kids. 2011. All done. 2011 has been a serious roller coaster for me professionally and personally. It seems like it was just yesterday when I was updating the 2010 end of the year list! Golly. 2011 in Pictures Jan – March: Welcome to the family, Robin Hood the Hyundai Sonata! / Custom made truffles from Drago Centro / Got laid off April – June: New Zealand vacation / Cochon 555 / The Nerd Machine Slave Leia PSA July – September: 4th of July at the Los Alamitos Base / Camping on Catalina / USC football season October...
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Taking a Leap

On March 31, my 6 years stint at the LA Non Profit came to an end.  Things were changing at the office and the brunt of it fell on me, the only person in the office to get such brunt. But then God/Universe/Karma/Fate/Circumstances opened a door for me to walk out on.  After all of the signs through my MP3 player and other means, I wasn’t going to ignore this opportunity. I seriously have followed the lyrics of Defying Gravity.  I have closed my eyes and leaped. Friends were coming to my rescue with new job leads and opportunities, and...
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