Success sounds like...

A cacophonous cascade of confounding thoughts.

Salutations!

This is a reflection post

I graduated last month with my Master's in the Arts, Museum Studies with a focus on Education. I have been doing quite a bit of processing (and celebrating) this past month, thinking about all of the ramifications and expectations accompanying my accomplishment. Many people (more than I expected) have asked me things like "How does it feel?" and "What are you going to do now?".
I guess folks don't really consider this to be rude, and I reckon I wouldn't think it to be rude either if I had not been in the position of hearing this question at the precise juncture when and trying to come up with a satisfying answer.  My answers included a lot of "I don't know!" and "It feels pretty good..." which of course does as much for the recipient as it does for me, namely profess an anticlimactic articulation of a pivotal life event.

It was like a roller coaster that had a massive buildup, many twists and turns, feet up in the air with much frenzy, only to end rather quickly leaving me soaked and wondering how long it will take to dry off so I could enjoy the rest of the park.

I am a little smarter, a little more capable, and under a whole lot more pressure to do something with my life. Which is great, right? Cause I am the kind of person who needs an external force pressed upon me to motivate towards greatness. 

Newton said it best:

• An object that is at rest will stay at rest unless an external force acts upon it.
• An object that is in motion will not change its velocity unless an external force acts upon it.

And all that.

"Other people's lives seem more interesting cuz they ain't mine. Well I'm fed up and need to go, out of existence or just down the road forever" -Modest Mouse off of Building Something Out of Nothing

Fast forward through the post graduation existential mental meanderings and I am in Washington DC for the summer, doing a fellowship with the Smithsonian Latino Center working for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Which has been intense and interesting on many levels; most poignant of which has been the internal wrestling with the concept of interpretation and representation of identity. Which I still can't make head or tails of and run circles around the ambiguity of it all till my mind just tells me to knock it the hell off and think about string theory or something more palatable, like frilly underwear. Ultimately I feel like it's the kind of thing that doesn't like to be designated into such steadfast parameters and trying to do so for the sake of appeasing someone else's notion of completeness or understanding will unfailingly yield a half-assed assessment of an invariably personal prescribing. 

Word. 

Other than that my time in DC so far has been marked with a rather astonishing level of inactivity. It's completely bizarre and unlike me, especially in a new city with such a vibrant cultural scene. But I am feeling really subdued. Which is great, coming down from the absolute insanity of the last six months (two years!?) calls for a much needed chill the eff out time. 

Now, it's not like I have been completely hermetical, I have been partaking in my [nowadays] quintessentially signature activity, dating. Which has been fun and markedly different from dating in the Bay Area. Perhaps because of the temporal nature of my presence in DC and also because the East Coasts breeds a different sort of man. I must say the crop much less attractive (at least in DC), but delightfully possessing just the right amount of sarcasm and straight forwardness I have much desired from their handsomer West Coast counterparts.

ON THE HORIZON:

A  [paid] researching gig with the New Media and Technology Director of the Smithsonian Latino Center working on a project dealing with gaming and (you know it!) cultural representation and Latino identity. In the realm of immersive video game experiences of all things. It's actually kind of eerie that video games have made their way back into my life in this way, but I am totally into it. My aversion to gaming has to go the same way my aversion to technology has; out the window! My work is going to consist of bridging the gap of understanding the nuances of Latino representation in gaming, pretty rad I think. 

For whatever reason I was lucky enough to pick a niche (underrepresented audiences and STEM) that is really relevant today, unbeknownst to me! But, hey friggen awesome, thanks life! It will be what I make of it of course. This opportunity to do work with such a big name brand is pretty ridiculous, it won't pay much of course and is nothing in the way steady work, but super advantageous none the less.

In other fronts:

I have applied for two jobs fresh out of grad school, one at the Seattle Aquarium, and one at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. I am not expecting replies on any of my endeavors for a while, but I am still positive and hopeful. I know it's a rough market [understatement], and that everyone and their mommas just graduated and are all looking for ways to start paying off their student loans. I get it, and I am not taking it personal. I am going to get more serious about it (and working out!!) when I get back to the Bay. I will be starting out local and up the West Coast, and then widening the scope across the states, cause whatever, I am down for adventure (and becoming gainfully employed), even if it's on a non (gasp) coastal state.

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, I will try to be more dutiful. I know you probably don't care (haha) but I need to keep my writing chops sharp, and I really enjoy adding a voice to the innumerable pictures of myself I post.

  

My first ridiculous Instagram photo collage!

                     

Talk to you next time, until then, expect great things!