Of course, I’m struggling with getting a new job and progressing professionally (Electricite de France Renewables will probably not be hiring me) but I think part of it is I haven’t continued to educate myself in a manner to position myself for growth.

Socially...I’ve noticed that my local group of friends seems to have gotten awfully small. And I’m worried about my (local) best friend Niko and his husband Steve leaving sooner rather than later. Not to mention it never seems that my other two closest friends, John and Ed, take initiative to hang out, it’s always me who has to get everything planned. And of course, I no longer have the empathy bandwidth to hang out with Asad as his life seems to be a series of misfortunes - even thinking of hanging out with him is draining my energy.

Physically I think that I”m on the upswing but it feels way too slow. I’ve lost 12 pounds (have about 18 - 28 more pounds of fat I’d like to lose) but my running is just not where I want it to be!! Of course, part of that is the climate - everybody is slower in summer in Houston.

Emotionally I find myself prone to mood swings or emotions just bubbling intensely under the surface. Maybe nothing dramatic (as I don’t know how other people are) but they feel quite dramatic for how I was compared to my early 20s and earlier.

Both colleagues were recruited by headhunters for other companies and will be getting twice the money that they are earning here. However my dad thinks asking for 20 - 30% increase in pay at my next job will be a stretch for me.

This field that I used to drive by twice a day for years on the way to and from work to my parents’ house, is one of my favorite sights in the rapidly developing exurbs north of Houston. Sometimes on winter mornings a thick layer of fog will hang above it. To me, hailing from the Midwest, there is something so quintessentially Southern about it, with the live oak trees and the Spanish moss. Southeast Texas is not a place of dramatic or beautiful scenery so this field is one of the most beautiful things to me, and really gave a sense of place.