Blessings in Disguise

With all the chaos that my life has encountered in the past several months, I had the chance to take a break and relax in California for the past week. My main goal of the trip was to interview at UCLA, but when I was laid off, I extended my stay. (I guess that's one of the benefits of not having any responsibilities.) Anyway, the week in sunny California definitely put a lot of things in perspective.

First, the whole being-kicked-out-of-my-apartment by my roommate was actually a blessing in disguise. If that hadn't happened, I'd still be paying all that rent for a crappy apartment with no insulation. That definitely would have put a dent in my savings. In addition, I would still have to live with someone that I don't like. Fortunately, things happened the way that they did and this lay off won't be as hard for me as it could have been.

Second, I realized that I needed this break in my life. For the past 3.5 years, I've been working non-stop. Sure, I've had the occasional long weekend and whatnot, but no real vacation. And I'm tired. After putting in those long hours and 24/7 support to the service guys, I needed a break. Not just from the long hours, but a break from engineering. I'm not cut out to be an engineer and I just don't have the passion for it. This break has allowed me to really reflect on what I want to do with the rest of my career. For a while, I was focused on promotions and raises without really enjoying what I was doing, but I've realized that that's not what I want anymore. I want to really enjoy what I'm doing. Even if it doesn't come with a 6-figure salary. I still want my MBA, but if for some reason that doesn't work out, I really want to get into graphic design and advertising. For a long time, I thought that I could use engineering as a creative outlet, but I was wrong. The creativity involved in engineering is not quite the same as creating a cute little monkey to sell cereal.

Third, my trip to California has made me realize that Chicagoans must be masochists. While it was about 6 degrees here at home, Los Angeles averaged close to the 70s everyday. In fact all of the Bruins were flip-flopping it across campus in T-shirts and jeans. Hopefully, this will be my last winter of snow and frostbite.

Last, despite all the chaotic events of my life as of late, I'm happy. I've been shown all the true joys of life through my family, my friends, and Law McGraw. Law McGraw's parents (the McGraws, if you will) were uber-nice to me all week and very supportive of my endeavors. I'm so thankful to have them in this web of support that surrounds me.

There are so many things I'm looking forward to that I don't have time to look back at the unfortunate events that have happened. And even when I do have time to reflect on them, I realize that so many people have it way worse that I do. I'm looking forward to all the other blessings that are in store for me in 2006!