Rygerts

That's terrible, but at the same time awesome. It's a huge dick move to try to do that to someone, but big ups that you didn't fall for it!

Only if it's non gluten, low fat, keto, paleo, lacto fermented, organic, non GMO and kosher. Preferably halal too, but that's optional.

I volunteered to do a project in my field at the local university. Everything I did was documented on a public github page that I also included in my resume. I was invited to a three night conference, all for free, including food and alcohol, and met tons of people in my field. It was a great learning experience. It took less than three months to land an interview after being unemployed for over two years. And I got the job. And it's way better than what I could dream of. Shit just worked once I could show a potential employer that I know what I claim to know, and most importantly, that I can learn new things.

I was told to do this more than once by several people, I thought I was better than that but fuck pride. Being poor and miserable due to misplaced pride is a waste of time. If you aren't doing anything productive, find a researcher at your local university who's doing research about things that interest you, or a suitable person within your field in the private sector, and tell them you want to contribute. Just make sure that it'll be worth their time. They get paid to do their job, if they need to spend hours helping you it's probably not worth it for them. Offer to do something that you know you can do without too much supervision.

As an example I did genome annotation which only requires an internet connection and a computer. I downloaded data from their databases as well as public databases. I programmed, ran computational analyses on my computer as well as on their cluster computers and I googled like a mad man. And at the end of the day I updated github to let my supervisor, and potential employers, know what I had done. Once they realize you're carrying your own weight they'll get more involved. I was about to start going regularly to the university and "work" there instead of at home, but I got a real job before the preparations were complete so that was the extent of the project. I finished by writing a summary and recommendations for what to do next.

Take initiatives, employers love that.

I would love to hear more about how PTSD affected you, how the treatment was done and what symptoms are still lingering. And congratulations on the physical and mental recovery, we live in extraordinary times and are lucky to have access to this kind of technology.

How did you react when you learned that you were going to become locked in and die from it?

And how was the moment when you realized you weren't locked in and you could communicate it with someone?