It's hard to talk

The following is a stream of consciousness. It was originally meant as something more poetic, to try and share what social situations are like post transition. It is not meant as a call out post for any person or the conference I was at. I solely wish to share what my experience is like now, and offer some contrast to how it was. It’s hard to talk (as a trans person). ...

April 26, 2019 · 3 min · Ame the Squirrel

Systems are Not Always Easy Part 2: Unblocking

In part one of this post I talked about what I feel the hardest part of every system is, maintenance. I talked about identifying tasks that take up large amounts of mental stress and what you should maybe do with them. Hint, throw them out or defer them. What if you really need to do this thing though? ...

June 16, 2018 · 5 min · Ame the Squirrel

Systems are Not Always Easy Part 1

I’ve spent a lot of my time over the past years evangelizing the power of having a system and the David Allen Getting Things Done (GTD) method. One thing I haven’t talked much about is that while having a trusted system has huge advantages it doesn’t come for free. Like all systems it must be maintained or it breaks down slowly until one day it either stops working completely, or you’ve given up on it for it’s inefficiency. Having a system isn’t unique to GTD but it is my favored variant of system. There is a lot of GTD flavor and verbiage here but absolutely nothing in this post is unique to GTD, this will apply to most of the systems I have used. ...

June 15, 2018 · 5 min · Ame the Squirrel

A Word On Depression and Anxiety

Every day people say horrible things to me, constantly judging me, tearing me down, and invalidating me. Sometimes it’s my friends, sometimes it’s my family, other times it’s just me looking in a mirror. It starts first thing in the morning when I open my eyes and I feel gross by the time I get out of the shower. Most of these things never actually come out of another person’s mouth though. We can say “this isn’t real” but the fact it’s all in my head makes the feelings and emotions no less real. ...

June 8, 2018 · 3 min · Ame the Squirrel

An Open Letter to Whom it May Concern

Sometimes it’s a little odd to hear these things from other people so I thought I’d leave a nice open letter to whom it may concern. No wait, this isn’t a generic letter to just anyone. This is a letter I am writing specifically for you. That’s right, directly from me to you; Just you. You probably heard some confusing things, or caught wind of some stuff you don’t understand. I am here to make some clarifications, set the record straight, just in case you missed the news. ...

May 3, 2018 · 2 min · Ame the Squirrel

BaaS: Burnout as a Service

I wanna take a moment to to address what I like to call Burnout as a Service; how I see burnout as a product of the tech industry and culture. My friends, coworkers, and I have all experienced it in various levels, sometimes to crippling physical side effects. In this article I’m going to use strong language like need, and should, and I won’t work with you if you [don’t|do] $thing. While I have strong opinions about this subject and feel I have developed a powerful framework for helping avoid burnout it’s bound not to be perfect or complete. I do study this subject at great length in the name of personal development and productivity/energy management so if you have thoughts, opinions, feedback, or insights further into this topic I’d be happy to hear about them in the comments. ...

May 2, 2016 · 10 min · Ame the Squirrel