This is my new office…or rather, one of the many new work spaces I will have.

I am working from home under the patio of the community pool in my townhome complex.

How does it feel? Honestly, I think I’m still processing it all. I feel free but it’s kinda scary too! I won’t be having a steady paycheck in my bank account now. Yikes! I admit it, I’m nervous. I know I’ll be fine, but it’s still nerve-wrecking. This is new territory for me. :/

With the looming $1700 I may have to spend to recover my data, I had a stressful nerve-wrecking week worrying about my finances but the feeling of being free kinda masks that stress. I have so much I have to think about and do in a short amount of time but trying to take it a day at a time so I don’t get overwhelmed. So, unfortunately, I didn’t feel the amazing celebratory adrenaline rush of freedom but that’s ok… I’m still happy. It’s still something I’m 200% positive about and I’m ready to face all the obstacles that are thrown my way.

Basically, I traded in my financial security for freedom. Yes, that’s scary. It’s all been pretty bitter sweet and emotional. I didn’t go out and party (except for a chill happy hour, I’m gonna have to be extra frugal with my money now) or even sleep in. I had a doctor’s appointment first thing in the morning at 8:50AM! Waking up early for work was so hard for me. It’s not the early part that is hard, but waking up early to go somewhere and do something you don’t want to do is utterly miserable and one of the hardest things for me.

Also, I haven’t told my parents personally yet, but my cousin blurted it out 3 feet in front of my Mom at the baby shower in California, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she knows. If my Dad knows, I would be the first to know. I guess he’ll find out when they try to call me at work. :/

But, I did go on an all girls’ camping trip and wine tasting over the weekend to Krause Springs and also went again to Pedernales Falls State Park in just the last 5 days. It does feel nice to be able to go anywhere whenever I want and not have to check if I have enough vacation days. Thank goodness those days are over!

However, I do miss the companionship of my coworkers/friends and having our frequent lunches, walks, talks and parties. I’ll be visiting them soon.

But since I haven’t written in a while, this is a quick recap of the major events in the last few weeks.

• Rented out my 2 bed/2 bath 1521 sq. ft. townhome to 3 good friends and will convert the dining room into a 3rd bedroom.
• Nori and Mishka got stuck on the rooftop twice in the middle of the night and my friend David called me at work to tell me he thinks Mishka is dead, but he’s not dead. Thank goodness! He was just hiding inside the bed and wouldn’t come out.
• Attended SexTech 2012 in San Francisco, CA as a Safe Sex Superhero with Hep B Free Girl! This was a great networking experience!
• Welcomed my new niece with a baby shower and Phamily reunion in South Pasadena, CA and got lots of lecturing from my Dad on how I need to go to Church and have a plan to get married.
• Lost my whole life on my WD external hard drive due to a failed motor. This includes all my videos and photos I’ve taken since last June, my Kickststarter Henna Around the World and my Safe Sex Superhero pilot video footage. It will cost ~$1, 700 for a Level 3 data recovery with Geek Squad at Best Buy. Still on the fence about what to do.
• Quitting my day State cubicle job of 5 years on Friday the 13th (although I went back to work Monday morning to clean my cube)…and voluntarily gave up all financial security and health benefits. It was a very emotional day with my coworkers throwing me an awesome Pham Pharewell Philm Phestival party where I cried a lot and made many of my coworkers cry too, my coworkers made an awesome pharewell video, and an awesome cupcake cake with my face on it. They really wanted me to stay yet eat my face at the same time.

So lots have happened, both good and bad. There are things you can control and things you can’t. So, there’s no use getting upset or stressed over things you can’t control. Hell yea, I was and still am upset that my hard drive crashed. I wanted to cry about it but didn’t. Everything I’ve done over the last year is lost. I can’t dwell on it too much though. I have to just decide whether I think it’s worth it to spend $1500-$1700 on recovering the data. Of course, I’d rather use that money for a trip to Vietnam or a new Pro HD video camera. And even if I spend that amount of money, there’s no guarantee that I will recover it.

I’ve taken some days off to get away from the mundane day-to-day responsibilities, but this is still at the forefront of my issues right now and I haven’t decided what to do yet. At this point, I could let it go. But at the same time, I feel like I should at least try to recover it. At the end of the day, it’s just money but the videos and photos are memories that are irreplaceable. To me, that is worth it, right?

What would YOU do? Have any advice/experience losing and recovering data?

P.S. As for what am I going to do with myself now that I’m free and how am I going to make money and travel?  …stay tuned!

…here’s a new video blog updating you a little on my plans to quit my job and have the freedom to follow my dreams and do what I love!

…and I’m trying to learn and build new skills in iMovie 11 and Pixelmator!

Today is International Women’s Day today, March 8, 2012! In honor of all the awesome women I know and don’t know, I’m reposting my video about the Girl Power Pool Party. Simply, it was a party to celebrate women and our awesomeness! We’ve come a long way and especially now in these times fight for women’s health and women’s rights, we’re going to have to be stronger and stick together!

(Did you know Women’s Studies was my 2nd major at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor? Good times! Go Blue!)

Last summer, we organized a girl power pool party to hang out, have fun, pamper ourselves, and raise money for SafePlace. We fundraised $100!

Linda Huynh (has a DIY craft blog), Phyllis Kung (is an Acupuncturist), and La Pham Nikita, providing food, drinks, henna, acupuncture, goody bags and also Mary Kay make up by Patricia and photography by Mimibug.

It was such a blast and we hope to host another one of these again this summer!

Summer 2012 is going to rock, girls! Go Girl Power Go!!!

Note: This a blog post from almost exactly 2 years ago, February 25, 2010. I was really happy today, February 29, 2012, when I stumbled across this blog post because I totally thought I lost it on my ex-BF’s server. [You know the feeling of finding something you thought and accepted was gone forever.] I had not looked at my blogspot blog or this post in a couple years. You can see my old blogspot blog here. I can’t believe it’s been 3 years since I started blogging and I suffered a few traumatic episodes of blog coma in that time. But now that I mostly recovered, I’m looking back and it’s interesting to see how I’ve grown since. I’ve been through so much and so much has changed since in my life. But this is most definitely my favorite blog post. Here it is, in the original unedited long version from Thursday, February 25, 2010.

I’m a self-proclaimed camping expert in Texas, specializing in solo female camping in Central Texas and beach camping in the Gulf Coast. I’m a proud owner of a Texas State Parks Pass. And I think it’s pretty cool to say I’ve camped in a yurt and vintage trailer at El Cosmico in Marfa. A must do, by the way. And I even lived in a 1982 Southwind Winnebago RV for 6 months in Arlington, Texas in 2006. That was like camping EVERY day and I loved it!

The RV I lived in for 6 months in Arlington, Texas in 2006

I don’t know everything yet and haven’t been everywhere yet. Texas is pretty massive you know. But I’ve been diligently camping in Texas since 2006. Check out this old blog post from 2010 on my mission to explore Texas.

And I’m still traveling and exploring “deep in the heart of Texas.” Being a Michigander, I do love you, Texas.

A couple weeks ago, I was surfing online and just came across this environmental short film contest hosted by the Rainforest Partnership.

The contest, Films for the Forest,  was to produce a short film less than 5 minutes about forest, community and connections.

I was really excited for 2 main reasons.

1. I’ve been craving camping lately. I had just gone to Pedernales Falls State Park in early January 2012 and then I was going camping and fishing at Inks Lake State Park that weekend, Feb 11-12, 2012.
2. I’ve been on a videography mission, to film and learn to edit videos. I did a few videos on an ancient 2006 iMovie version but just upgraded to iMovie ’11 with special Hollywood style, so I have to learn a whole new program all over again. So this camping video was an exercise to learn the iMovie’11.

Then I saw who the celebrity judges are, Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Waking Life, etc.) and winners will be screened at the SXSW Community Screenings event on Monday, March 12, 2012. That got me really excited and made me that much more motivated to do and submit a video.

I decided to do a Public Service Announcement (PSA) to support the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. They are currently in need of $4.6 million to stay open. Watch their video.

So, I created and edited this video in less than a week, using video footage I had already and some that I shot for the video.

All my footage was shot with just my Canon Powershot SD940IS and edited in iMovie ’11. I’m still a beginner and learning to use this software for the first time. There is an audio glitch when Yvonne talks about taking Skippy camping for the first time. I don’t know what happened but I went over the video several dozens times to make sure it was perfect and something must have happened when it got converted and I didn’t have anymore time to fix it and re-upload it. Oh well. :/

Since February 10, 2012, the video got over 600 views. It’s been shared on several Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Facebook pages. That made me really happy! Just to think that my video reached out to over 600 people and perhaps I am able to inspire just 10% of them. That’s 60 people who will go camping and hopefully visit a Texas State Park sometime in the next few months to a year. That feels pretty darn good, knowing I made a difference for some people and for the environment.

Some women shared the video and even commented that Aaron Sekula, lead guitarist of Befriend the Bears, looked like Brad Pitt! That was funny and nice to know.

Camping is awesome everywhere, even in Texas! Let’s revive the camping culture everybody!

It’s an affordable fun way to get out of the city, have a mini vacation and enjoy nature.

Take a break from civilization and the internet and connect with nature and family, friends, and pets.

I think you’ll see, that camping is so much fun! What’s cooler and better than that?

I’m still really anxious to find out if my PSA video will win and be screened at SXSW because that would be so awesome I would have to go camping to celebrate!

 Texas Travel Tip:

Spring is Texas Wildflower season. It’s basically here and THE most beautiful season in Texas, besides the hot season. AND it is unique to Texas. So, plan a little fun romantic road trip through the Texas Country and hunt for wildflowers, run in the fields and take beautiful pictures.

Today, I started a Facebook page and Twitter account for my kitties, Nori and Mishka!

No. I’m not bored and don’t have a lot of free time on my hands. In fact, I need more time in a day.

No. I’m not a crazy cat lady. I only have 2 cats. I think you have to have more than 10 cats or something crazy like that.

Yes. My kitties are pretty darn cute and adorable. I think I could make money leasing out Mishka as a therapy kitty. He’ll be the perfect playful lap kitty ever. He’ll cuddle with you and he’ll play. He’ll be your sidekick. He loves to knock things off the counter just for fun. He can be a rascal, but a very irresistible and adorable kitty too!

Yes. I do feel like it’s more of a doggy dog world. I live in Austin, Texas and it’s definitely a doggy dog town…dog parks, dogs everywhere.

What about the kitties?

Lately, my friend David Paul Krug and I have been enjoying the company, entertainment, relaxing, calming, and therapeutic love of having kitties. So, I just decided to give them a Facebook and Twitter account. Just for fun and because I love kitties. Kitty Lovers Unite! Meow!

Why did I start a Facebook page and Twitter account for my kitties?

I just want to raise awareness and express my love and appreciation for my kitties and the role of pets (and animals of all species) in our lives, whatever it may be, as companions, running buddies, lap kitty, snuggle buddy…

Also, I want to give a special shout out to the awesome Mimibug Photography for taking kitty portraits. We all love our pets. So why not have nice portraits of them, kinda like photos of yourself, family, friends, kids, etc…  Contact her today if you want pet portraits of your sweet pets.

Check out one of my favorite videos of Mishka!

Xmas Kitty

My parents and other conventional thinkers would probably say or think something like this:

Why do you want to quit your job? You have everything going well, a secure stable job at the State Health Department with good health insurance and benefits. Why would you be so foolish? In this economic time when so many people don’t have a job?

Me:

Because I have this sense of urgency. I feel like I really HAVE to go after my dreams and MAKE them come true THIS year! This cannot happen if I stay in my current job. I did my time there and got vested. That’s enough. Now, I need freedom and time to create and travel and do the things I wanna do. There are things on my bucket list I want to check off, sooner rather than later!

My perspective on this is that I’m still young, single, and with no kids but 2 kitties (although practically the same thing to me). This is the time to do it. I can take a risk because I’ve got just me, my kitties, and I. I’ve got nothing to lose but…what? a job? health insurance? a mortgage? Well, that’s not what life and happiness is all about, not to me at least. So, I’ll be joining quite a few others then. I’m not alone. I’ll make it work. I’ll survive just fine.

You know what it is that makes me want to do what I want to do so badly? I figured out over the last 3 years that I had so much potential and talents in areas I had no idea. I started learning and dabbling in all kinds of creative arts and crafts to explore my new found interests and skills: knitting, painting, drawing, sewing, cooking, piano, guitar, modeling, dancing, photography, videography, blogging…

I love them all! So, tell me now why I should choose to waste anymore of my precious time sitting in a cubicle? That would be a waste of my skills and talents, no? I figured out that I value myself more than that and know that I could be doing so much more. My whole being, as someone with smarts, skills and talents, can contribute so much more to the world and is meant for something else…something bigger than a cubicle…something more like the world!

I wanna make the world my office!

I guess I figured that out after 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for the last 5 years and 3 months….that’s 14,840 hours of staring at a computer and cooped up in a cubicle. Actually, I made this discovery in less than 2 years or 5,648 hours.

The point is, if you’re in a place where I am or was (I would bet we have all been there at one point or another):

• You don’t know what you want to do.
• You don’t know what you’re good at.
• You don’t know what you’re passionate about.
• You don’t know what makes you happy.
• You don’t know how to make money AND do what you love…you know what I mean?

So, to figure all these things out you have to do lots of thinking and be in tune with yourself.

• Self-reflection
• Learn new things and experiment. Figure out what you like and don’t like and what you’re good at, etc…
• Pay attention to the feedback you get from family, friends, coworkers to answer questions like: What do I do well? What am I good at? What makes me excited?
• Simply ask yourself these questions and write out the answers
• Get inspired and be around inspiring, encouraging, supportive people

These are just some things I’ve done to help me figure out what my dreams are. My stubbornness is really valuable when it comes to this kind of stuff. I believe I can do anything. I don’t listen to anybody who questions me, discourages me, judges me, or is unsupportive of me. And now, I feel like I’m really that much closer to making my dreams come true!

Why not? Life is short. You can’t sit around waiting for things to happen. You have to value yourself. Believe you can do anything! You have to be determined, inspired, and start executing. What are your dreams? Don’t you have things on your bucket list? Are you checking any off right now? Why not?

You have to feel that sense of urgency to make your dreams come true, sooner rather than later. I would bet that you’d thank yourself later for it.

Last night, I couldn’t sleep and woke up early. I guess that’s what freedom feels like. I went to bed way after 2AM and woke up around 6AM but didn’t feel tired. The thought that I could decide to quit my job and just do my own thing any day now is liberating. I still can’t believe I made it 5 years and 3 months and now I’m vested at the State of Texas. I’m high on freedom!

I haven’t quit my job yet though. I still have to work a little while longer. So, technically, I’m not officially free. But, it’s the mental state that matters and knowing now that I’m not stuck. I have a choice. That’s freedom.

But there are still LOTS of things I need to do before I can escape from this conventional American Lifestyle of a cubicle job, mortage, and debt.

Things to do before I can quit my job:

• Rent out my 2 bed/2bath townhome
• Minimize and declutter all my stuff
• Figure out what to do with my cats
• Figure out my finances
• Work on rebuilding my website and future plans

Obviously, there are a lot more details that go into pulling off something like this. You have to have plans. It’s just a matter of whether it all works out as you planned.

We all have dreams and some of us are proactively making them come true. But many of us are still figuring out what our passions are, what we do well, what we want to do, what our purpose in Life is.

HOW to marry all these things AND make a living at the same time is a challenge we all face. Well, obviously not everybody, because there are people out there living their dreams. I’m just not totally there yet. Almost….slowly but surely.

Over the next couple of months, I will be working extra hard on my new projects…..plowing my way through the obstacles to reach my dreams. It’s an exciting and challenging time for me. I hope YOU will enjoy the ride with me and maybe YOU might be INSPIRED to go after your dreams too! Just sayin’!

La Pham Nikita returns, after losing the last year of her blog on her “ex boyfriend’s” server! Scandalous! So this is my website back at square one! You can click here to view my blog when I first started.

I made it to February 1, 2012, which is when I’m vested at the Texas Department of State Health Services, after doing 5 years and 3 months of cubicle time. This is a big reason to celebrate with a blog post and Miller High Life beer. Fortunately now, I’m up to all kinds of no good wild creative adventures in my spare time. Watch my video blog to find out more and subscribe to receive updates!

Love. Peace and Happy New Year of the Water Dragon!! 2012 is the year where dreams come true!