I kicked off this year with the ambitious goal of writing at least one thing, in any format, per week. A few months in, I realized this was putting too much pressure on myself. I also started to think more seriously about writing a novel, and I wanted to focus on it exclusively.
Two concept pivots later, the novel unfortunately took a backseat to a soul-crushing, five-month job hunt. My discontent with my day job reached a point where I was crying every Sunday night about having to go back to work in the morning, hopelessly pessimistic about my career trajectory, and constantly angry. I submitted over 50 applications, reformatted my resume twice, e-mailed one faceless recruiter after another, had innumerable phone calls, had 10 video or on-site interviews, and received 21 rejections.
I learned New York is full of shiny start-ups “disrupting” the way you make financial investments, order food, reserve physical storage space, manage retail inventory, continue education, and get someone to clean your apartment—all online, mostly from your phone. The “Uber” of this, the “Facebook” of that.
In November, shortly after I tendered my resignation without a solid contingency plan—goes to show how unbearably toxic that environment had become for me—I received an official offer of employment. It was from an up-and-coming company that actually seems to be doing something real, has a robust and amazing product, and has tremendous potential for further growth. I accepted immediately, with the most excitement and optimism I’ve ever felt about my career. I am no longer working in the same role as I did for the past five years, which is somewhat scary, but hopefully I won’t ever be turning back.
2017 was an exciting and gratifying year in other ways, too. Friends had birthday parties, got engaged, completed graduate studies, got promotions and new jobs, and launched new initiatives. I had the honor of attending not one, but two vibrant, exuberant Indian weddings. I did my first (and only, for the foreseeable future) short story reading at a Brooklyn bookstore. I joined an amateur orchestra that will be performing at Carnegie Hall next year. I heard amazing musical performances by Yuja Wang and the New York Philharmonic, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and Hans Zimmer. I stopped using paper tissues and switched to handkerchiefs. I traveled to Colorado, Dallas, Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles, Olympic National Park, Cherry Springs State Park, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico City, and Mumbai. And I got engaged!
I made a more earnest effort than ever to seek out new stories and characters, especially from people of color and other marginalized voices—something I plan to continue in 2018 and beyond. These were in the form of wondrous, awe-inspiring books:
- The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, by Ken Liu
- The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy
- Sour Heart: Stories, by Jenny Zhang
- The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past), by Liu Cixin
- Her Body and Other Parties: Stories, by Carmen Maria Machado
thought-provoking independent theater productions:
- In Full Color
- Blackout
- Say Something Bunny!
and fascinating exhibits at the:
- Guggenheim (NYC)
- National Videogame Museum (Dallas)
- American Writers Museum (Chicago)
- Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago)
- Museum of Broken Relationships (Los Angeles)
- Future of Storytelling Festival (Staten Island)
- art museum in Mexico City whose name I’ve sadly forgotten.
Next year, I want to be better and more proactive about maintaining friendships. I want to keep growing and learning, and help others do the same. I need to get back into writing (again). And I want to tick off some not-so-fun items that have been on my to-do list for an embarrassing amount of time, such as deep-cleaning areas of my apartment. Happy New Year, everyone! Let’s make it a great one.
lunarsine 