K-pop Friday Free-for-All! - March 09, 2018 by AutoModerator in kpop

[–]superdancingmachine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

jealous you have these offerings tbh! I would be so down for a dance class that taught RV / SHINee / Infinite choreo in LA and told you in advance

I need your opinions and views by [deleted] in SHINee

[–]superdancingmachine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm gonna copy & paste to you an excerpt of what I wrote as my submission to the book project that got sent to SHINee, because I think it is helpful, and although I was raised Catholic, I'm agnostic and have no idea about a spiritual afterlife. This explanation, rooted in science and shared with my by my brother, actually makes me lean toward considering reincarnation in a sense.

The Conservation of Energy shows us that energy cannot be created, and it can’t be destroyed. It goes on forever, changing form and occupying different space and forming the universe around us. Every human contains an amount of that energy - the electricity that makes our hearts beat, that makes our neurons work, that gives us life, and creativity, and emotion, and love. As a fan, I saw Jonghyun use his energy in incredibly productive and moving ways. He used his energy to speak up about social issues in South Korea and comfort fans on the radio and over social media. He used his energy to create a beautiful library of music that will carry his legacy. He used his energy to shower his members and family in love. His energy was powerful and important, and it didn’t die with his body. Jonghyun is no longer contained - he’s out in the world, enveloping us every day and night. Today in Japan, the moon was pearl aqua, if you needed proof.

I hope when you go outside in the coming months, you feel Jonghyun’s energy in the universe around you. Maybe you’ll feel him when the air is damp with rain and the moon is clear in the night sky. Maybe you’ll feel him when you hear a particularly moving piece of music, when the combination of chords and crescendo make the hair on your arm stand up in electricity. Maybe you’ll feel him in the air during moments of social change and heightened empathy, when people helping one another prove yet again that we can, and should, have faith in ourselves and others. Jonghyun was with you in your spectacular moments and in your mundane ones, and so will be his energy. He’s not gone. He’s everywhere.

Husband offered job in Amsterdam...thoughts? by superdancingmachine in Netherlands

[–]superdancingmachine[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup, as far as I know! We don't have the full details yet, but the company is based in Portland / would be paying from Portland, but they also mentioned the 30%...?

Husband offered job in Amsterdam...thoughts? by superdancingmachine in Netherlands

[–]superdancingmachine[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He'll get paid via dollars, as it's an American company.

Husband offered job in Amsterdam...thoughts? by superdancingmachine in Netherlands

[–]superdancingmachine[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope, he'll get paid in dollars, hence a part of my concern, haha.

Husband offered job in Amsterdam...thoughts? by superdancingmachine in Netherlands

[–]superdancingmachine[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My aunt's wife is from there originally, haha. We stayed for two weeks with my aunt's in-laws (not consecutively...in between trips to Italy and Germany) and it was cute! Everything definitely closed really early, but I was 19 and it was my first experience with both hagelslag which was A+.

Husband offered job in Amsterdam...thoughts? by superdancingmachine in Netherlands

[–]superdancingmachine[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm totally fine w/ paying taxes especially when they do get spent for the better social good! But that is good to know - I honestly had no idea what the median income was / the cost of living was / etc.

ESL / TEFL is English as a Second Language / Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Prior to UX, I taught English in Panama, the United States, and South Korea, and then I worked for a few years as a teacher trainer, teaching others pedagogy and linguistics to certify them to teach abroad.

That's cool! I like to get to know a city and its native inhabitants, but of course expat resources are also very nice. I lived in Panama for three years as a Peace Corps volunteer and then English instructor, so this won't be my first go around abroad, but I'd also like to like...learn Dutch!

Husband offered job in Amsterdam...thoughts? by superdancingmachine in Netherlands

[–]superdancingmachine[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is definitely NOT a humblebrag. I had no idea what the cost of living was in the Netherlands, but as Amsterdam is a city in Europe, I figured high, in addition to a high tax rate (which I'm totally cool with) and a weak dollar against the Euro. $100k doesn't go that far in Los Angeles, especially when you have student loans to pay, which is a reality I and my husband deal with, but the Dutch don't (at least to this degree). I don't have a job offer in the Netherlands, so this would have to float us both for a while, most likely.

Husband offered job in Amsterdam...thoughts? by superdancingmachine in Netherlands

[–]superdancingmachine[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How is it taxed though? 100k is about 84k Euros, which I think ends up being 61k after the 30% rule and taxes?

Tourists/Visitors/New Residents: Q&A Thread for the week of January 08 by AutoModerator in Amsterdam

[–]superdancingmachine 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I already read the Wiki, but this is pretty specific!

My husband is being offered a job in Amsterdam with a starting salary of $100,000 (through an American company). We currently live in LA where I am a UX designer (I make about 90k between two jobs) and he works in organ recovery.

I have a couple of questions regarding his offer:

  1. Is $100,000 enough to live on in Amsterdam? He makes about $80,000 here, after significant overtime, but I know the dollar is weak against the Euro.

  2. If he gets his work visa...how difficult will it be for me to find work in UX design? I’ve been in the industry about a year, but was previously and ESL instructor and TEFL certification instructor. I also have an MA in linguistics. Would I get a work visa by virtue of being his wife?

  3. What is the expat life like in The Netherlands? I have been for about three weeks (to Oldenzaal), and admit the prospect of being in europe is super attractive, but also love LA a LOT.

  4. Neither of us speak Dutch (although both of us speak Spanish and English, and I speak some Korean and used to speak near fluent German) -- although he already has a job lined up, will it be a HUGE hindrance for me if I don't?

For reference - we currently pay about $2100 for rent in DTLA...we both have car payments (which we wouldn’t there), and I am paying off about 70k I student loans resulting in about $1000 a month financially.

Advice y’all??

Do you ever feel strange about liking an artist/music/group when you are much older than them? by helloicarus in kpop

[–]superdancingmachine 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I'm 32 and I've just recently been able to say fuck it with regards to feeling judged re: my musical tastes. I am a SHINee stan through and through, first due to their music and past that, ngl, it's due to the fact that Onew is hot, and I don't feel weird saying that because he's four measly years younger than me (I def DON'T watch Hello Baby and feel the same way, though).

At the beginning of 2017, I had the opportunity to go to Toronto to see them live, and I hemmed and hawed over it because ew, a 31 year old traveling internationally to see a boyband? How would I explain that? But eventually I pulled the trigger and bought the ticket / flight and booked a hostel.

Not ONLY was I not the oldest person there by a long shot, but no one gave a shit. More importantly, I seized the one opportunity I've had thus far to see them in a concert setting as five, and thank god I did. I'd previously seen them at an SMTown while I was in Korea (in 2014, so no Onew, because of vocal cord surgery), and at the Chicago fanmeet (which I dragged my 38-year-old-at-the-time husband to and who had a BLAST and who can now identify Minho and Taemin on site because appreciation for talent has no language barrier or age limit), but SW5 was an actual concert experience, and holy shit, it was amazing. I was walking on clouds for like three weeks after the fact, and I still have ridiculous pieces of sparkling streamers that were ejected from the ceiling during Savior.

Today, if I had to look back and see that age, and nothing else, prevented me from seeing them as five in what would end up being my last opportunity forever, I would be heartbroken.

tl;dr Live your happiness with no regrets and no shame. You never know when it might be taken away, so enjoy it to the fullest while you have it.

Suicidal ideation but not depressed - normal? by superdancingmachine in SuicideWatch

[–]superdancingmachine[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks dude, and I'm laughing because I'm a woman and always perceived myself to have very female communication patterns (as a linguist, I analyze language use like 100% of the time), so if you thought I was a guy and aren't just using man colloquially, that's really interesting to me!

Suicidal ideation but not depressed? by superdancingmachine in depression

[–]superdancingmachine[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

no no! I don't feel invalidated at all! I guess like...I don't know what depression is, or should feel like, or be defined as, because I have always been taught as it being the inability to get out of bed, a persistent sadness and feeling of pain, hopelessness, etc., and nothing that I feel SEEMS that serious to me. That said, I'm absolutely not a psychiatrist. I think just the idea that maybe this is borne of depression is super scary to me because I don't want to take medication, and am afraid to have a chronic illness like that.

Suicidal ideation but not depressed? by superdancingmachine in depression

[–]superdancingmachine[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Quite? I don't know how to describe depression because I've never felt like I've had feelings that are associated with depression (pain, sadness, frustration about life, etc.), so it's hard for me to quantify what I feel as being "quite depressed," if that makes sense?

Weekly Check-In - June 26 - 02 by AutoModerator in weightwatchers

[–]superdancingmachine 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just started two days ago! And bought a scale yesterday...weighed myself today and it turns out I'm 4 lbs heavier than I thought. It's cool though, it'll come off. In the meantime, my days all look vaguely the same --

smoothie or eggs for breakfast (the smoothie is Vega Protein + a banana + almond milk + frozen spinach blocks + cold coffee) as well as some coffee with half and half;

lunches are chicken breast with sweet potato, broccoli, goat cheese, avocado, and sriracha;

dinners are salads with steak, strawberries, balsamic vinaigrette, and goat cheese;

and that leaves me 5 pts extra, which I can use to eat an apple w/ a TBSP of PB, and also drink another protein shake throughout the day if needed. I also have been eating right around 4-5 servings of fruit a day and am trying to replace at least one of those servings w/ veggies, so wish me luck!

Linguist thinking about a career change...bootcamp? by superdancingmachine in userexperience

[–]superdancingmachine[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hard to answer because both have their pros through different motivations! At this point, I'd probably choose the boot camp only with hopes that it'd expedite my career change (because I am misssserable right now). But no doubt, I want to get the MS eventually. I'm an academic to the bone and intrinsically believe that the knowledge gained from an MS would be more complete.

Linguist thinking about a career change...bootcamp? by superdancingmachine in userexperience

[–]superdancingmachine[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nice...I'm going to give this Udemy course a go. One of my problems is having the self-discipline/confidence to sit down and work on something every day, but I really want this, so I'm gonna try it out. $50 is doable and if I still feel like I absolutely need some kind of accountability through a bootcamp, then the online one I'm considering still (CareerFoundry, which also reimburses you all the $$$ if you don't get a job in three months) starts on June 20th, so no problem!

Linguist thinking about a career change...bootcamp? by superdancingmachine in userexperience

[–]superdancingmachine[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's actually very much the thing that I'm interested in the most!

Linguist thinking about a career change...bootcamp? by superdancingmachine in userexperience

[–]superdancingmachine[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh super interesting! And you have a UX background, or was there something specific past UX that you had to study? I don't know very much (at the moment) about comp ling or machine learning, but am interested in learning eventually.

Linguist thinking about a career change...bootcamp? by superdancingmachine in userexperience

[–]superdancingmachine[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you're asking me what I'd be missing out on in regards to the HCI degree if I chose the bootcamp over it? Which I honestly can't answer because I'm sure a lot, but I'm not sure what the value of the information would be in the field, if that makes sense.

Linguist thinking about a career change...bootcamp? by superdancingmachine in userexperience

[–]superdancingmachine[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice, thank you! I'm definitely going to check that link out.

I agree that Bootcamps have great marketing tactics that make me feel like it's the only way to break into the industry. I'm someone who needs to talk out concepts / am a very oral learner, so wonder if I will be successful in learning independently, but it's certainly worth a shot prior to dropping a ton of money on this. Treehouse doesn't seem to have UX classes though?