Dear reader and living being,
Hello there! I hope you’re doing okay.
In January, I have been working with WISE as a researcher volunteer. WISE is an NGO centered in Southeast Asia. I have volunteered since my last year in the undergraduate program. Working with them gave my brain to think about something other than life and global problem.
About job hunting, I received a couple of job application rejections (and assumed the rest did not even bother to notify me). I would really try my best to notify rejection if I’m going to lead an organization, including if it’s only 2-3 persons of organization. Also, I haven’t started any proper part-time work because they wouldn’t accept residence permit emails. Couldn’t help that one.
Regarding personal projects, I continued to develop my solid waste management simulation game. Please tell me if you have any prompt for the name of the game. I am also currently developing a board game to metaphorically represent solid waste management. I guess my last professional job influence me a bit. Lastly, I published the article about my study experience in EPA TU Delft.
All in all, there is no really clear accomplishment in January 2022. That’s okay, I’ve done what I could’ve done.
Interesting things - Wonderful videos
I watched several animated short films in January. The animation will always have a soft spot in my heart. Be it Pixar or personal projects. Animation is unbounded by real-life physics law and they can visualize the intangible. I mostly would enjoy the story instead of questioning the science and the possibility.
If you want to try, I would recommend this to start with.
I also enjoy writing and what can be better than a combination of text and animation. I will leave you with a kinetic typography video. It is one of the cleanest animations that I have ever seen. Yes, I admit that it’s an excuse to recommend another video but I sincerely like it.
A thousand euros idea - skill tree for real life
I’ve been keeping track of my work experience since I’m still in the undergraduate program. It looks a bit like a portfolio but I include everything including when I’m being a staff in an organization or when I do volunteer in a one-time event. It helped to describe part of my life in a chronological way. It works well but it’s still pretty linear.
I’m thinking what about a skill tree. One that I can see, update and describe what are my skills, probably more about hard skills that I can use for professional development. Development doesn’t always happen linearly and sometimes our interests are all over the place. It can also highlight the transferable skills and the particular skills needed to achieve a certain level.
Imagine a flowchart with many branches but they’re more persistent and more interactive. For example, my skill tree would consist of writing and I can level them up according to my own milestone.
To me, it’s particularly useful for tracking our personal development. It helped us to broaden our view and shift from single tunnel vision into considering multiple possible paths. It’s dangerous for life optimization though. I don’t think we should optimize life and we shouldn’t oversimplify our journey.
And, that’s all for today.
See you next month.
Thank you for following my journey. We (me and the other me) hope you find something fun to read and think about.
Your random friend, Julivius