Author Archives: Richard Reilly

2014 in Review

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  1. What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before? I reached complete independence. It’s strange. I’m 25 and for the first time in my life, I am 100% in control of my life and finances.  It is a great feeling.  Also, for the first time ever, I’ve started a career rather than another job. 

    2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
  2. Zero out of four for 2014:
    1. Get below 190 pounds. [Failed Miserably but at least I didn’t gain weight]
    2. Keep in better contact with friends and family [Failed. Moving to NY made this extremely difficult.]
    3. Write Novel Number Five [Not even close. However, I’m more excited about my current writing project than any project in the past two years].
    4. Continue writing a daily diary [I stopped as soon as I got back to the US].
  3. 2015
    1. Run more than 1.5 miles 180 days.
    2. Contact the people I love at least weekly
    3. Start a serious writing project.
    4. Do the best I can at work.
    5. Become financially stable.
  1. Did anyone close to you give birth? Cousins are having kids. Other than that, no.
  1. Did anyone close to you die? Thank God.
  1. What countries did you visit? Technically I hit Morocco, France, England, and the US in one day. Other than that, nothing. We’ve explored a lot of New York though.
  1. What would you like to have in 2015 that you lacked in 2014?   I want to take advantage of this random life we have in NY and explore a part of the country I only partly know about.
  1. What date from 2014 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

February 8th: The flight back home from the Peace Corps
May 1st: Getting the Job offer in Newburgh.
June 3rd: The day Sofia arrived in New York.

  1. What was your biggest achievement of the year?Starting a lasting career and relationship simultaneously.
  1. What was your biggest failure? My inability to continue running. My inability to stay in contact with loved ones.
  1. Did you suffer illness or injury?I never got sick in the Peace Corps. And the only time I’ve been sick in New York is now (an annoying cold). The last time I puked was January 10th, 2013…so I got a nice two year streak going.  However my knee is starting to suck.
  2. What was the best thing you bought? I’ve loved going to random Restaurants up and down the Hudson Valley with Sofia.
  1. Whose behavior merited celebration? Sofia for being so strong. My parents for being so helpful and understanding as I jump around the world like a crazy person.
  1. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
  1. Where did most of your money go? Rent and Food. Extra money? Coffee, restaurants, and NYC trips.
  1. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Seeing Sofia again and moving to NY.
  1. What song will always remind you of 2014? Take Me to Church by Hozier. It’s just an addictive song.
  1. Compared to this time last year, are you:
    1. happier or sadder? I was incredibly lonely this time last year. Peace Corps was a great experience but a lonely one. My decision to come home was one of the best decisions of my life.  In the months since I returned, I’ve built my life up the way I really want it to be.  I am a better person because of it.
    2. Richer or poorer? As I start to honestly pay off my student loans, I am starting to understand wealth and the idea of money.  This is the first time I’ve had a good paying full time job.  It’s a strange feeling to be so financially independent.
  1. What do you wish you’d done more of? Read and Write. I already regret not reading enough. I always have a book on me but I need to default to it more often.  Writing is always a difficult game…I just need to find the balance where I force myself to write daily.  That’s the only way to do it.
  1. What do you wish you’d done less of?Time on the computer. The older I get, the more I wanting to separate myself from  my electronics.
  1. How will you be spending Christmas? I actually have no idea.
  1. How will you be spending New Years? No idea here Either. We’ve talked about going to Time Square.
  1. Did you fall in love in 2014? Every day.
  1. How many one-night stands?
  1. What was your favorite TV program? We watched the entirety of Friends in 2014 and not much else, so that’ll probably be the winner.

  2. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
  1. What was the Best book you read? Unfortunately, I didn’t get to read that much this year. Nothing great really stands out.
  1. What was your greatest musical discovery? I am addicted to the variety available on 8Track. I love picking a new mix every evening.
  1. What did you want and get? Honestly? The life I have right now was only a dream of mine a year ago…I got everything I wanted. The girl of my dreams. The job I love. The life I can call my own.
  1. What was your favorite film of this year? Great movie.
  1. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 25….and I don’t honestly remember it. The 80 days in Greeley were a sheer whirlwind.
  1. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Having more time to spend with my nieces.
  1. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2014? “I’m an adult now? ..ok.  Time to buy some button down shirts, nice shoes, and nice pants.”
  1. What kept you sane? This was an unexpected part of my year. With the full time job, I’m taking on a very different stress in my life. I started running randomly….and got addicted so quickly.
  1. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? With the lack of a TV….not many. The closer we get to 2016, the more I like Hickenlooper. He would be a great VP for Hillary
  1. What political issue stirred you the most? Income Inequality and Automations effects on unemployment. I’ve become fascinated with economics and find myself terrified by the way the world works.  It all boils down to one stat for me: The Richest 85 people in the world have the same wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion.
  1. Who did you miss? My family. My friend in Morocco. Alan.  It’s hard to start completely anew.
  1. Who was the best new person you met? Honestly, this is a tie between many people at work.  The positive attitude of my new office is the best part of the job.
  1. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014? It’s important for the soul to be able to make a living for yourself.

The Everyday Project Manual

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Below is the preface to the Everyday Project manual that I am writing as a result of a successful Kickstarter campaign.  There are still a few days left in the campaign.  If you ever thought about starting your own project, now’s the time to do it.  You get a copy of the manual for only $3. 

 

The Everyday Project: A Guide
Preface

In the 2080s, I suspect I will fall victim to one type of cancer or another.  Given my demographics, I should live to be almost 90 without too much of a problem–so long as I don’t get in a violent car accident or piss off my future wife too badly (which is a possibility).  In the days that follow, my family, friends, and former coworkers will gather for my viewing.  I’m quite the introvert, so I imagine this being a small event.

Some people have specifics about what their funeral will look like.  Who gives the eulogy.  Where it is held.   I only have one stipulation for my funeral.   At some point I want the lights dimmed and my Everyday Project to play from start to finish.  I started when I was 17.  So long as I live a normal lifespan, the video will show me aging more than 60 years.  At the current rate, a year passes in my video every 18.26 seconds.  If I keep that speed, the Project will last nearly 20 minutes.  Enough time for the mourners to truly reflect.

It’s hard to imagine that a lifetime project will end up being only 20 minutes.  But it is so much more.  If you are reading this manual, then you already know the power of an Everyday Project.  All you have to do is watch one.  I will never forget the first time I watched Noah’s project nearly a decade ago.  At first all I could think was, “Who’s this guy?”  Then it was, “This guy must really like his face.”  But then hair is cut.  Beards grow and are shaved.  The default background suddenly changed….

..and you suddenly realize that you are being invited into an incredibly intimate part of someone’s life that can be expressed in few other mediums.  Everything changes in our lives.  Our clothes go through cycles.  We move.  People in the background fall in and out of our lives.  But we are still there.  Aging, ever so slowly.  It’s a thought that brings up so much emotion–from primal fear of death to bottomless courage to live life.

To me, The Everyday Project is so much more than an egotistical selfie project that we all get labeled as by the comment section.  It is project that grows in meaning with every passing year.  When you reach your first year, it’s cool to look back and know that you were able turn it into a habit.  When you hit three years, you start to feel something when your watch your project.  You aren’t simply seeing yourself from three years ago.  You are seeing the person you were three years ago turn into the person you are today.

Once you hit the 5-7 year mark, you know you can never go back.  It’s addictive.  For me, the start of September means it’s time to put together another Everyday Project video.  Another year.  I may only be adding 18 seconds to the video, but that’s not what you see.  You see a long string winding through different phases.

As I near eight years, I see myself finishing out high school, hating college, struggling with finding a career, going off to the Peace Corps, coming home, and starting a career.  Through all that, you can spot old girlfriends over my shoulder.  Friends show up quite often.  The Eiffel Tower is in the back of one photo.  Watching the video acts like an injection of nostalgia pumped directly into your heart Pulp Fiction style.

This is why I try to encourage people to start the project and make it their own.  So far I have convince two family members and one friend to start their own project.  I hope to reach many more with this manual.  Thanks to the extremely generous backers on Kickstarter, this is now a reality.  This manual will cover all the basics.  I will take you from before you take the first picture to turning it into a lifelong project.   Before we begin, I’m going to start with the one piece of advice I repeat to anyone who is interested in this project:

It is never too late start an Everyday Project.  Whether you are 11 or 65, your project will quickly become something you cherish.

Career Path

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Over the past three weeks, I have jumped head-first into the world of work.  With dozens of applications and about 10 interviews,  I believe I can make a living by being a professional interviewee.  I know how to answer every question thrown my way with examples and results.  Not to mention the fact that every office manager hears me talk about Peace Corps and instantly wants to hear more.  It’s like crack for those in an office setting.

But today threw me a bit.  In an interview this morning, one of my interviewers filled up a ten-minute interruption with a discussion about books about professional development.  I asked him to name a few.  Most of them made sense.  How to Become CEO. Outliers: The Story of Success. I could understand why he was sharing this information with me.  As a young man just out of the Peace Corps and looking to start a career, I am prime yet raw.  Molding is what will turn me into a good employee.  But then he recommended his favorite book.  The Art of War.  I’ve spent a great deal of my day contemplating whether or not I want to read this book and whether or not I would ever want to apply it in an office setting.  I also took a personality test which told me I am INFJ…which explains why I overthought the conversation.  So….I wrote a short poem.  Because that’s what I do.  So there.

The Promotion

Until Next Time.  Enjoy.

Back in the Good Ol’ U.S.A.

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Today marks a month since I left the Peace Corps.  It’s been a strange, yet fantastic month back. Next week I turn 25.  More than ever before, I finally feel like an adult preparing for a whole new phase in my life.   Within two months of that time, I will have a full time job (likely within the US government) in a new city.  I can’t wait to get started.  Until then, I’m just working on making my transition home a healthy one.  I decided to wait a month to write my reflections.  This weekend I finally sat down and wrote it out.  Here it is:

on Peace Corps

Ask Me Anything

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This is a permanent invite that I should have posted a long time ago.  If you are looking into joining the Peace Corps and have random questions, feel free to ask me anything.  If you are in the Peace Corps and just want to know my experience, ask away.  If you have no affiliation with Peace Corps, I’ll still answer whatever you want.  Send me an email or find me on Facebook.  I’ve been through it all.  I bordered on Early Termination.  I have loved my service.  I have dealt with how romance effects service.  If you want advice or have a specific question, I’m sure I can help or point you in the right direction.

FFman@comcast.net