Joseph Tatum

is blogging and not playing anything


Blogging in 2020

The New Place

The internet is a wild place these days. Over the past several months I've considered the idea of no longer posting to social media platforms and creating a dedicated space of my own making for sharing what's going on in my life. It can feel exhausting being inundated with imagery that makes you feel like you don't have and aren't enough. Social media (particuarly Instagram) had become a mental burden so a few weeks ago I took these apps off my phone and I've felt quite a bit healthier. This along with recent events in the world, has brought me to the point where I don't think places like Instagram and Facebook are where ramblings and photos from my life need to exist.

Thus, I have turned to blogging in 2020. I spent about a week putting this blog together so I can share with those who are interested in what's going on with me comment and like free 👍🏻.

I'll try to post here every now and again when there's something new to let folks know. You can also sign up to be sent an email using the link in the sidebar and be alerted when I post something if you'd like. Anyway, some of the goings-on of life at the moment...

I Moved (Again)

That's right, girls. I have moved yet again. I counted and this is my 8th residence in a little less than 6 years 😬. For those of you who don't know, I have a boyfriend. His name's Charlie, he's lovely, and we've been together for about a year. When coronavirus hit the US a few months ago, he more or less moved in with me at my apartment in Northwest Portland. It was going well (he's easy to live with) and we knew that we wanted to start looking for our own place come August. But, being the serial mover that I am, I started looking around at the rental market in mid-May and saw a listing for a really great place for us in Southeast. We decided to go for it. It's a cute little 2 bedroom apartment with a private (best part) courtyard that really sold us on the place. We've been here just over a week and we're still setting things up, but here are a few more photos:

Living Room
Courtyard
Bedroom

I Started a New Job

I finished a 6 month coding program at Alchemy Code Lab back in March. For those who don't know, in September 2018 I left my first job as a designer to try my hand at a career in real estate. Long story short, it wasn't for me and I knew that I wanted to go back to technology (more specifically coding). I decided to do the program at Alchemy last fall and it was a fantastic experience. I learned a lot of new stuff and came out of the program finally knowing things I wanted to learn for years.

A few weeks after graduation I was offered a job at Columbia Sportswear as a Front End Developer, but due to the state of the world and the free fall of the market, the job was paused and the offer was rescinded a few days after I (verbally) accepted it. It was a tough moment. But luckily a few weeks ago, a friend connected me to someone they knew looking to hire a developer. After a few conversations, I signed on as a Software Engineer at Kickstand. I started a few weeks ago and I'm really enjoying the work. I'm also super fucking grateful to have employment right now.

Other Things

I turn 29 in about a week, so maybe I'll post something about that in a few weeks. For now, here are some photos of other things from the past few months...

Swimming on a Cloudy Day
Neighborhood Goats
Breakfast in the Courtyard
Charlie in Washington Park
Northwest Portland Graffiti
Me and Charlie

So, that's my life at the moment. It's good but weird. I miss sitting in coffee shops, but I've gotten accustomed to this new way of life as time has went on. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Next: Turning 29