Art is a Way Project

A friend of mine challenged me to participate in a 30 day creative challenge. We have to commit to creating some kind of art and present it at the end of the month. My project has been to complete the first chapter of my next sci-fi novella, and so far I'm very excited about it.

Here is a snippet of the first draft:

"Waking up in an alley is pretty poetic. Or pathetic. Alleys have seen so much, from teenagers searching for a high to ashamed men, limping back to their lives.

Alleys should be explored alone. The fading smell of gasoline only appeals to a few, but it's hard for someone who appreciates it to relate to someone who doesn't. Granted, hardly anyone would be able to withstand the wafting fragrance of old vomit and alcohol.

This particular alley was hosting a man without a shirt, lying face down in what seemed to be a mixture of drool, blood, and vomit. It was a rather normal sight for this alley. Soon, he should wake up and walk away, possibly to return the next day. But that is not what Ethan did."

Coffee and words

I'm sitting in a coffee shop, working on a potential new novel about a dystopian 3-d printed society. Will see how it goes, but I'm enjoying doing something creative and productive with my time. I am not a fan of unemployment!

Changes!

It has been ages since my last post and man, has it been a ride. In these past few months, I moved up to Seattle to work on a project for AT&T (hackathons), settled down here, finished my work with them, and have started searching for a new position.

So far, Seattle has been amazing. I've been really luck to have met a ton of amazing people and have learned a lot over the past few months. There is so much talent and intelligence in the world- it makes me believe in a great future. Seattle itself is filled with such talent - music, technology, biotech, art, and the list goes on! The rain and greenery is beautiful, and the days with sunlight are just as exciting. Coming from a drought-time state, this rain has been breathtaking. The people here, despite the so-called "Seattle-freeze", have been extremely accommodating and friendly. I'm definitely starting to get a grasp of the scene here and am hoping to get more involved in the community. I've looked up several interesting tech meet-up groups and am also looking to join a martial arts gym! There is definitely a lot ahead!

This has possibly been the longest year of my life, and it has been the most challenging and rewarding thus far. I'm really looking forward to what the new year has in store for me!

"Humans Need Not Apply"

Everyone keeps saying that there will be more jobs created and that it'll be enough but I've never believed that. There is no way. There are too many people and their jobs are all replaceable. Any new jobs that are created will never be able to account for all the unemployed. And if robots can replace all these jobs, who's to say they can't replace those? This goes with that story we're writing. People are going to become aimless and confused. They're going to have everything and not know what to do with it.

PS AI is great!

A new challenge.

I've entered a new chapter of my life. I made the decision to move on from Coding House - a company I spent endless hours with. I loved the company and the people - it was just time for something new. A new challenge.

I've been searching for new opportunities, fixing up my resume - it's a bit daunting. In the mean time, I'm teaching music again, which will be a lot of fun. I'm also working with Lyft and driving people around. It definitely going to be an interesting phase in my life. I haven't been without a job for a long time.

I'm taking this time to learn some coding as well. I used to do a bit in the past, but forgot most of it. I'll be working on my own website, using basic HTML and CSS. Keep an eye out: uditaplaha.com

Here's to new challenges!

GoDaddy support is terrible.

I've been trying to get a hold of them for an hour, to fix the setup of our emails. Nothing.

We're in a competition and time is so valuable. I don't understand why they're system isn't intuitive and there are too many places to do the same thing.

>:[

The EIA to this date.

What a ride.

It's been several days since I last wrote, mainly because by the time I get back, I pass out. 

The first week was all about ideation and user validation. We decided to change the name from The Box to ExplorIt, which I much rather prefer.. We thought we were falling behind, but it turns out that we've caught up now. We're working on customer development, business models, prototyping, and much more this week. It's past 1 am here and I'm still up working on customer development. My team is doing great - we have to go live by the end of the week and everyone is working extremely hard to make things happen.



It's also extremely hot and humid here, so I can't fall asleep. It's been such an exhausting week and the public transportation hasn't been the best. Twice I've had buses drop me off at the wrong University. The first time, I had to walk 5 km in heels, uphill, to the dorms. The second time, I was just carrying my laptop bag and thankfully wearing flats, and only had to walk about 2.5 km. And the SMOKING. Way too much here. I've gotten a little to used to how much people smoke - kind of worrying.

Despite the craziness, it's been an amazing trip so far. I got really lucky to have a teammate with a car, so we do get to go travel all over. We went to Nice for Bastille day on Monday, which was amazing. We walked around the city, went shopping, went to the beaches - just had a great time! The beaches in Nice were quite rocky, so we also ended up in Antibes, to find some sand! We came back just in time to watch the game, creatively projected on the side of a table, while all us students gathered around it outside our dorms, in the woods. 1-0! Such a close game!

Here's to another great week!