Obligatory preface of apology for the belated Kennymail. My dad flew in Thursday and left this morning, so I’ve been spending most of my time with him—helping me go furniture shopping and packing/unpacking all my crap but also just getting dinner and hearing some of his lore. I’m honestly so glad he’s retired (he took DOGE’s buyout in January) and was able to come help me, because I think I would’ve been pretty overwhelmed trying to do it all myself… I really need to donate some of my clothes. But it was also such a pleasure just getting to spend so much uninterrupted time with him! As I’ve expanded my perspective and met more people from different walks of life I’m realizing how privileged I am to have such a good relationship with my parents who truly do love me unconditionally. I think there’s a lot of people out there who would view their dad visiting for a whole weekend with a lot of dread and anxiety, but I guess I’m lucky enough to have it feel so easy. It’s pretty safe to say that good ol’ Pops passes my grocery store test with flying colors.
It’s kinda fitting that this is coming out today since it marks my one-year anniversary at Amazon—my first day of work was 08/05/2024. I’ve definitely had more than my fair share of stressing out, feeling like everyone knows what they’re doing except me, and worrying that my manager is about to fire me, but honestly I’ve grown a solid amount as an engineer. If anything, I’ve gotten pretty darn good at using AI. I do feel fortunate to have been on a team that didn’t require any long nights or weekend work (outside of occasional on call ops work) as I’ve heard plenty of horror stories within AWS and even my own org, so I guess I’m pretty content for now. Seems like all these other companies are looking for 2+ YOE anyway. I’ve been talking about my career with my parents a good amount lately, and we’ve kind of come to the consensus that if I can finish my tasks on time and not have my manager yell at me then I’m doing pretty great—no use slaving away for some dangled promise of promotion that might not even come.
What else, what else. Oh, I did end up going to that EKKSTACY concert by myself after all and honestly still had a ton of fun! Shoutout Mandy for the exhortation, it was so worth. It also helped me realize that if I ever want to go into the city I can just catch an Amazon shuttle from our Sunnyvale office all the way up to our SF one, so I don’t need to worry about parking my own car. Game changer to be honest, I fully intend on taking advantage of that to get to Outside Lands this weekend. Not sure if I told you guys about that actually, but there’s a pretty cool program I signed up for through work where I and a friend (I’m bringing Nate) can volunteer in the morning and get a free ticket for Saturday’s lineup—looking forward to flipturn, Gracie, and Tyler big time. Kind of a retribution for Bonnaroo I suppose.
Also went to Caleb’s moving away party on Friday and a pool party Saturday that Nate invited me to, but honestly wasn’t really feeling either one for some reason. I feel like I ended up just talking to a few people and then falling asleep, either on the couch or a pool float. Rare moment of introversion for me.
Now that I’m mostly moved in (still waiting on my nightstand and desk to ship), once Caleb gets back we can really lock in on decorating, and I’m super excited but also kind of overwhelmed because I haven’t really done this before. I’m thinking I’ll probably get some movie posters and ideally some plants, but that’s about all I’m sure of for now. I get all these interior design TikToks that are wayyy too ambitious for our little ADU but look so sick… I really need to stack my bread so I can have a cool house someday. Send me any design inspo please!! We are specifically on the lookout for a nice L-shaped couch.
And I think that about covers my week!
Thanks for reading and also I find it so adorable when y’all text me asking for Kennymail whenever I’m late. Best fanbase in the world <3
Kenny
if you have shirts you don’t want….. donate to goodwill of Faith (me) !!
Yay!! I’m so glad you had fun
And glad you got to bond with dad.