year in review

From the Desk of NC – 2018 In Review

by cifanic
February 3, 2019July 23, 2019

Jazz is in my earbuds, and has been since I moved to the Bay Area in January 2015. I’ve always been a fan of the genre, especially in a live environment – begging people to come with me to the Blue Whale in Los Angeles or to random venues around New York to hear the tight, syncopated sounds in action. For some reason I’m steeped in the genre now more than ever before.

In music theory, they teach you that the notes you hear right before the phrase, verse, or song’s conclusion are called leading tones. They’re the notes that hover in space and create tension. They beg for resolution, because notes want to be resolved – they want to go home.

In the first half of 2018 I traveled a lot for work. In a matter of months I flew to Tokyo, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, New York, and Las Vegas – whew! It left my head spinning.

I spoke at events in Berlin and Hong Kong. I went on adventures, from walking a tiny part of the Great Wall of China in the foggy morning rain to attending La Tosca at London’s Royal Opera House to riding the Shinkansen bullet train down the coastline of Japan. I visited with new international friends and started to outline my second novel. I worked hard at Matrix and volunteered with organizations like Hive and Tech For Campaigns. I moved into the city with N.

From the Desk of NC – 2017 In Review

by cifanic
January 31, 2018June 14, 2019

2017 Highlights

2017 was an unbelievable year, a self-induced jolt after a good 2016 and a rocky 2015 before that.

It’s helpful to provide a bit of backstory in order to best illustrate the greatness of 2017. In early 2015, I moved to the Bay area from New York. This was for two reasons: to join a new company, and to start over after a painful breakup. I spent most of that year heads down in work.

I had few friends in San Francisco, and was acclimating to life in the Bay Area. I was processing the break-up, and healing from a physical injury that made it difficult to participate in sports.

Prior, while in New York I had started a novel, and made the call in 2015 to finish it. I hired a life coach to get organized, and together we created spreadsheets. Many, many spreadsheets – mostly to track and optimize my time (was I actually doing my physical therapy?). Also, to measure my writing process.

I started taking better care of myself that year and built a stable base to operate from. Not that my life was in shambles before all of this happened, but it sure helped to gain some clarity, direction and focus.