To celebrate independence day, the fireworks lit up the sky all over the U.S on July 4th. To enjoy a big holiday in America, I went to the Gasworks park in Seattle. The event called Seafair was held by Amazon, so I expected it will be bigger than in Tacoma. There was a long line to enter that park and the park was packed with millions of people. I think it is because it hadn’t been held for 3 years because of COVID. Many people seemed to have high expectations of this event. To get a good seat for the amazing view, I went there early and had to wait for 4 hours. I was very hungry but all the food there was overpriced so I just grabbed potato chips. As it became 10:20 pm, the fireworks finally started. It was astonishing and huge. Sometimes it reminds me of white phosphorus munitions so I prayed for Ukraine for a few minutes. The fireworks didn’t last long thankfully. The last bus from downtown Seattle to my home was 11: 40 pm, so I rushed to catch the bus from Gasworks to downtown. However, I missed the point that there could be huge traffic jams after the event. I was stuck on the bus for 1 hour and eventually missed the bus to my home. To get a uber at a lower price, I decided to move to the SEA-TAC airport. The way to the station was sketchy. No one except the homeless was there. Anyway, I arrived at the SEA-TAC airport safely and took a uber. It was so long day for me. I can not forget this day not only because of the fireworks but also the traffic.

Like the July of 4th that I sent, LiftPort had bumpy days. Our important event, Space Investment Summit, was canceled. We poured our all efforts into that, but we had only two options; cancel or delay. I can not understand why everyone says they need more time. Sometimes I feel some people lack responsibility. There will be only one event before I leave. I’m so sad that I couldn’t manage lots of events. The upcoming event is Living in Space. I made a 1-minute long promo video and promo images for that as a personal project. I think I made it as well as a graphic designer. I uploaded those works on LinkedIn and Facebook. I hope my works attract at least 10 audiences. On the other part of our event, Michael had a hard time organizing schedules. Because we don't have much time, I'm a little bit worried. I hope this event will be held without any problem.

​
JIYEON GO

​On the 4th, we went to see fireworks. The park we went was crowded, loud, and expensive. The firework was breathtaking but a bit short. A guy next to me called it "sad"! He said they have better fireworks in New Jersey. Confusingly enough, he also advised me not to go to New Jersey. Mixed signals. The way to get home after the event was an unexpected challenge. I blame the traffic. Every single living soul in Seattle was out to enjoy fireworks. And it turns out that a lot was going on with Michael this weekend. He had a mild car accident and left his keys in the office before leaving for the holidays.

Sometimes I wonder why everything unfortunate seems to happen to him. He complains the same thing.

We are preparing for the event later this week. I've been working on Twitter for promotion. Michael is struggling with the schedule still.

YE

​It's almost July. Finally, summer is here. Michael said it will, but I didn't believe him until now. 
The good news is that the sun is up, and the city looks pretty. The bad news is that JY's leaving date is getting closer. We are planning every day to make something out of it. Going to Seattle even after work is always an option. I think we've explored Tacoma enough. It's a small, quiet town. We may revisit some spots, but that will be it.

We went to the Seattle pride parade last week. This was the first time for JY and me. I loved seeing people dressed and how strangers shouted "Happy Pride!" to each other. Seattle center was lively and crowded. I enjoyed music and played around fountains. My jeans got wet, but they dried fast because of the sun! It was a hot day even after 6pm. We had to stop for ice cream eventually. JY confessed that she used to not like ice creams before coming here. I could not believe her!

We kept walking and got to Capital Hill. Capital Hill was quite different. Fewer kids, more booze. I had jello shots. Maybe I could make them for myself? After a few rounds, we ran for the bus and came home. 
This crazy hang-out schedule makes me constantly tired on weekdays. I have to sleep early to fix this fatigue. At least I sleep as I turn off the lights. I used to have sleeping problems, but now with a LOT of walking and enough sunlight on me, I pass out every night. No counting sheep. And I would wake up at 6:30 without an alarm clock! 

YE

As usual, I did cat herding and a personal project this week. Cat herding works have been plain sailing. I’ve sent lots of emails to 18 speakers so far and there will be more. My new personal project is making a promo video for Living in Space on July 8+9. I collected free video clips about Mars and Moon for that. Now I’m editing the clips and writing subtitles. Because it is my second time editing the video, every process goes smoothly and the speed is faster than before.
​
This week, I restarted to participate in the session held by spaceworks Tacoma. The session was about the difference between branding and marketing. I could learn the definition and important pillars of them, and it was really helpful information. Honestly, we haven’t spent much time thinking about branding. We learned that branding should be first before marketing, so we are going to make our branding strategies soon. Because the session contains practical information and gives insight, I’m going to take the following sessions.

Instead of weekly Pizza Tuesday for team building, we went to mountain Rainier on Thursday. It is the 3rd biggest mountain in America, so I can see it in our office whenever it’s sunny, even though it is 77.4 miles away from our office. Because it is the representative mountain covered by snow, I really want to see it with my own eyes. Thankfully, Michael took me and YoungEun to the mountain! On the way to the mountain, we dropped by a pop-up fruit store and bought cherries and nectarines. The owner gave us samples and they were so fresh and tasty! We finally arrived at the mountain after driving for 1 hour and 30 minutes. We had quick meals at the cafeteria and walked 30 minutes course. Due to the snow, my eyes were dazzling in the sunlight, and sometimes I was about to slip. Despite the difficulties, the view was breathtaking. Especially I liked the top of the mountain which is covered by permanent snow. I could feel the greatness of nature. On the way down the mountain, we looked around the falls. It was quite huge and made lots of drops of water and two rainbows. It was interesting to be hit by water drops. We really enjoyed this short trip. I’m very thankful to Michael to make this memorable day!

JIYEON GO

We finalized when we host our following events; The Starfleet Enterprise, The Space Investment Summit, MarsCoin, and Lunar Development Conference! Therefore, we are working on cat herding right now. Michael hosted a bunch of speakers and I sent emails for the speaker portal. Young Eun made a useful checklist for cat herding on the notion page, so I could do my work very smoothly. I’m glad to communicate with speakers again and restart the event series! July will be a VERY busy month for us, even though I’m looking forward to that month!

We restart our Formal Monday too. Actually, it was Formal Thursday this time. It was my second presentation. We shared what we’ve done and what we’ve learned. I presented my personal project, social media stuff, and our Pizza Tuesday. As I said before, I made promo videos and images as a personal project. At the start, I was unsure of the result because I’m not artistic but now Michael and I are quite satisfied with my work. Regarding the images, I made two versions so they are waiting for the AB test! I’m really curious about the results. 

Now we move forward to the following events and have promo stuff. I hope we can launch our event series like Nuri, Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II, which was successfully launched even though lots of delays. 

Jiyeon Go

Less than a month remains with my internship, and I can't believe I've spent more than two months in this office. 

This small office is full of personal belongings. Naturally, Micheal is very attached to this place. He called the office "sanctum", if I remember it correctly. Since then, I am extra careful with locks.

He has a lot to talk when it comes to this place. He could have written a book about his office and his whole life if he wanted to. He's not sharing a lot of it with the public, which feels like a waste to me!
I thought of taking pictures of every tiny bit of this office and posting them on social media with his stories. This place have robots, posters, notes, book collections, lanyards, giraffe dolls(LSEI), loads of boxes filled with glory, and lots more in this office. But now I am running out of time.
I've also noticed a random "Get well soon" balloon on the wall made me curious. Nevertheless, I might not even start the conversation about this because I've learned the lesson: Micheal is VERY talkative. 

I wonder what will make him recollect us after we're gone. 
I ripped up the calendar of April and spilled lots of water on the fridge, so maybe that?

We are happy with intangible memories. 
We enjoyed our weekly lunches and drives. We had some Korean snacks and traditional drinks (막걸리; makgeolli) and enjoyed the view of Mt.Rainier from the window(wink wink). 
​
Wow, what days we've had. 
Time flies.

YE

Finally, I’ve started my personal project. It was hard to decide because I was unsure of my talent and didn’t know what I really want to do. After a few conversations, I decided to edit videos and make promo videos for events. Editing video is a basic skill that job applicants should know in Korea, so I thought developing that skill would bring me a competitive advantage. It is not only good for me but also good for LiftPort Group because promo videos can be used for marketing partners and attracting the audience! Now, I’m working on my first personal project, the promo video for the Space Investment Summit. It feels like manual work, but I enjoy it yet. I hope my skill develops more and more as time goes by.
​
Last week, we had special Pizza Tuesday. We went to the Korean restaurant and ate soft tofu stew, pork bulgogi, and Mackerel. I and Young Eun were so excited to eat Korean food. Michael liked those foods too. We visited the Korean groceries market too and recommended Korean foods to Michael. It was quite a good cultural exchange for Michael. Our team became to understand each other better! I can definitely say that our team is so good that everyone would want to work with us!

Jiyeon Go

On Friday, we went driving together. Our lunch was pizza, which we took with us on the way. Driving took more than 2 hours. All I needed was cool music, and Michael let me pick the songs, so I had no problem.
Michael showed us around where his childhood memories remained. Like his folk’s place, his high school, of course he never leaved out what happened then. He was open to share all the memories.
We stopped at several points, and one of them was seaside(don't know where, wasn't the one driving!). He taught me how to do skipping, which I couldn’t do even with the best stones. But that's for fun. I took some seashells on my way home. Next, we went to a local farm to get some ice cream.
We also visited Point Ruston before we even got there. We saw deer and passed by a yak in the zoo. I could really see that the trees and plants were different from Korean's. I know that sounds obvious but it was a pleasant surprise. I wasn't considering hiking around this area, but at this point I really should?
It’s a scientific fact that greenery helps your mental well-being. I think I would really enjoy forest bathing. I told Michael I am afraid of an unexpected encounter with a bear or coyote, but he laughed. He made promises that it is very unlikely to happen. 
I have a car sickness so I got tired and sleepy while he drove us back home, but still, it was fun.
Maybe again. I am glad Michael is feeling much better.

YE

Michael has COVID. 

Accordingly, we had to cancel the event that week. Michael tried to make it happen, but his symptoms were dire. He's feeling much better now, but he has not fully recovered. Test results are still positive. We haven't been to the office for a while. Everything is obscure.

My roommate was sick a while ago. She said she had a sore throat. The day after, she felt feverish and exhausted. First, she denied chances of COVID, but on the next day, she said she might have. It worried me because I'd already shared two meals with her. That means I could have the potential for COVID. The next day, she texted me that she had negative results. I was skeptical because Michael's results showed negative for a while but he still had COVID. She seems OK these days, but I have mild cold symptoms.

Nothing much to worry yet, but...you never know.

This pandemic is so exhausting.
Hate that I feel anxious even though I am all vaccinated plus a booster shot.

YE

COVID-19 attacked our office at the end of the pandemic.  We couldn’t hold our Better Futures event scheduled for May 6+7.  At that event, we were planning to host a great lineup, including astronauts.  Therefore, Michael tried to hold that event not to disappoint the speakers, but his symptoms were so severe that there was no choice but to cancel it.  I sent an email informing the cancel of the event to speakers.  This month’s event was forced to cancel, but we're going to invest more effort in next month's event instead.
​
Last week, all the things were chaotic.  Our schedule went awry, so I had to be assigned new tasks but Michael can not afford them.  I uploaded the blog, made a notion template, and sent emails that I can do in person without Michael.  Rest of the time I got a day off.

Like the phrase “After a storm comes a calm”, I believe this ordeal will be an asset to us.  At least, we don’t have to worry about next month’s Better Futures line-up because we will re-host speakers planned for May.  Thanks to that we have enough time to prepare for our big event Space Investment Summit.  I wish these two events bring great success to LiftPort Group.
​
Jiyeon Go