Post grad: One year later

I remember packing my things and leaving the place I temporarily called home like it was yesterday...


August 15th.

That's when I left the small city called Cedar Rapids in Iowa for good. Well, not for good but wouldn't be living there anymore.

I packed everything I can in a tote, stuffed every clothes I have in a suitcase and threw whatever I couldn't put in the tote or in the suitcase anywhere I can in the car.

Right before I left, one of my teammates, David, bought shooters because everyone else was going to go out that night. He handed me one and said, "This might be the last time we might have a drink here together....To this summer." We raised the little shooter of fireball and I was on my way out.

Before I headed out the door, two of the girls that we hung out with all summer were also there. They both gave me hugs and teared up as I let go of them.

I never had someone cry for me because I was going away for good.

I want to say I left around 9 o'clock at night so I can get home to Los Angeles during the day.

The drive was pretty long. A 16 hour ride to Boulder, Colorado and slept for about 1 hour at my friends old apartment parking lot. Then, 14 hours to LA.

I came back to Torrance with no life plan drawn out.

...

One year later, I am now a full time highlights production assistant for Fox Sports 1. In other words, I cut/produce highlights to a certain game I am assigned.

During my time at Fox Sports 1 so far, I am not going to lie, it was tough (for me at least). I would try to put extra time in even though I knew I was going to get in trouble for it, didn't complain when I got assigned to cut a highlight for a fringe sports I never knew about until it forced me to watch it. In short, it was a daily grind with unusual hours.

Yeah, I put in the time and labor to get to where I am at today, but I can't take all the credit for that; it was everything in-between within this year that got me to where I am.

After coming back home to Torrance from Iowa, I just sat around and helped out around house, well I tried to.

Then I remembered my buddy Mason messaged me earlier that summer I was Iowa if I wanted to play on a summer team in Torrance. So I messaged him and asked him what he was doing.

Then, he was recovering from Tommy John surgery.

After a short talk with him, we decided that we would work out and hit together. In the hope of his arm getting better and me finding a independent baseball team to play for.

This all started in September and continued all the way April until he had to leave for pro ball in Rockford, Illinois. We would work out on religiously on Tuesdays and Thursdays, even if we were hung over from during the night before. It was something we didn't want to miss.

During those 7 months or so of training, we both saw improvements on our lifts and felt stronger. I think I lost about 10 pounds at my peak during this stretch, and of course, also because I was going to Venice to go workout at Deuce gym with my good friend Taylor every Wednesday of the month since I want to say November.

PR'd deadlift at 315#

Waking up at 7:15 a.m. every Wednesday morning was rough, especially after getting off work at 11:30 at the earliest! I would get ready, drive to Taylor's and he would drive both of us from there. And some time on the day of the work out, we both would have work afterwards.


I put my body through a lot of stress throughout that time and I'm not going to lie, I never felt 100% during that time.


Besides from those two things, I got to hang out with some friends from high school and the junior college I went to. Some more than others now, but it was good to see some faces at a least once within the year I got back home.


Also within the year I got back home, I received an email from a professional baseball team in France and asked me if I wanted to play for them. I would have no doubt left Fox Sports and played if I didn't just get hired as a full-time employee there. So I was in a pickle in that situation. Long story short, they signed another guy, probably because I was pretty indecisive with if I really wanted to quit my job or not. There was another time that I was told I could possibly play in Austria but I never got to the bottom of that.


One thing I did during the 12 months after graduating that I wanted to do for a while was go visit my relatives in Japan. It's been a decade since the last time I visited them, only because it was after one of my grandfather passed away. But when I finally visited the motherland during the month of March,    it was still for an family emergency.

My family and I found out one of my aunts (my uncle's wife) had cancer and had a couple months to live back in 2013, so we knew time was short for her. Also, my grandmother is very ill. She lives in a nursing home with bunch of other elderly, which they all taken of very well but when we visited her, she couldn't remember who we were at first. After we sat down and talked with her, she started to recognize who we were. I mean, I don't blame her because she hasn't seen us in 10 years or so.

Couple of weeks later after my family and I return to the states, I remember telling one of my cousin's husband to tell her happy birthday for me since she old school and doesn't seem to be in the social media world.

After a couple of hours passed by, he replied saying that my aunt has passed. I remember how everything went down because I was at work and was everything just turned upside down that day...


I've done other things throughout this 12 months as well, such as go to Las Vegas for the first time since I turned 21, actually signed up for a membership at a CrossFit box, went to my first postseason Dodger game, visit San Francisco for the first time just to name a few.

The futon I sleep on at my mom's apartment

I think I am in a good spot right now. I can't really be complaining about little things. But I am still living at my mom's apartment with my two sisters, sleeping on a futon in the living room which sucks but not having to pay rent is nice (I do help out around the house and buy things for the house from time to time).

Hopefully in the next 12 months, I hope for bigger and better things to come my way.

I still hope to look to somewhere to play professional baseball weather if it's a small independent team or overseas. If not, I hope I've gotten a promotion and found a place to live on my own.

Until then, I just have to keep plugging away.


Jun


"Success is about dedication. You may not be where you want to be or do what you want to go when you're on the journey. But you've got to be willing to have vision and foresight that leads you to an incredible end."