I apoligize, this post is going to be all over the place
Overall Feelings About 2022 #
Last year, unlike 2021, was less eventful. I didn’t really learn much or pursue any projects. I think I read less books than the previous year and my spanish has slowed considerably along with my chess. Overall though, it seems to be a good jumping off point for this year.
Personal Life #
My bf gave me an ssd for Christmas, so I dug through my phone to store away precious images on this ssd, paused and smiled going through the events of 2022. I used to be embarassed at my love of taking photos. I am that person in the friend group who’s known for calling their phone a camera. Looking at these imagess though, and enduring the mess of 2019-2022, it’s like I put little anchors in various places to remind myself and others that not all is bad.
This year I: #
- Went to see My Chemical Romance with my room mates. They played so many songs I hadn’t heard of. I was shocked to learn Gerard Way is now 45! His live singing was fantastic but there’s a sense of tiredness that I couldn’t shake. He had been on tour for a while by the time he arrived at my hometown so that could be it.
- Went to Portland Main with my room mates and other friends. There, I saw the Victorian mansion, went on a train tour, the Palace Playland and ate really good tocitos. I ate at Duck Fat, crossed Tandem Coffee Roasters off the list of coffee shops I wanted to see and ate more food from the Honey Paw
- Visited Hudson, New York and discovered the greatest comic store ever: Pure Folly Books
- Went to Art Omi. Steven Holl’s Obolin was my favorite exhibit. This piece is an interactive room made of just wood. It is a play on perspective, at a distance I thought it was a flat object. I didn’t realize it’s interactive nature until I got up close. It is a cube with holes at the top and side and in the cube is a patruding ball. This piece got me thinking about additive and negative properties, of allowing natural light into a constructed space and of math.
- Went to a wedding in Florida
- Saw my sister who came back from Korea
- Went to my first ever large classical chess tournament (I did horribly).
- Visited K-Town in New Jersey several times and drank really good bobba and ate at a nice Korean restaraunt. Also probably indulged in too many sweets.
- Met my bf’s nephew. He’s adorable!
- Saw my friend from Taiwan who I haven’t seen in over 3 years!
Cooking #
I expanded my menu a bit and learned how to make some Palestinian dishes. I also experimented with fresh herbs (it didn’t go so well. I made pasta and mashed potatoes).
Watched #
TV #
- Bee and PuppyCat : By far my favorite TV show. It is so adorable. I have no hopes of Netflix creating a sequal
- Fawlty Towers : Very british. I really like The Hotel Inspectors, the Kipper and the Corpse and Basil the Rat. I will say, the episodes do kind of blend into each other. Maybe I’m just bad at watching TV. Anyway, this is the perfect show to throw in the background or watch when sick or when you just need a good 'ol pick me up.
I am a doctor and I want my sausage! - Dr. Price
- 1899 : I really liked it until I realized at some point, they were going to focus less on the boat.
Movies #
- The House: a three part short animated movie using felmation. It follows a house’s journey through three people: a child, a rat, and finally ending on a cat. The show explores themes of returning to a natural state, valuing what is important (I guess the trappings of vanity), and letting go.
- Sorry to Bother You: I love this movie so much. It has such an interesting way of critiquing and commenting on race and capitalism. It is funny and weird.
Equasapians out!
- Inherit The Wind (1960): This is a fictionalized, dramatized film about the Scopes trial. I want to write a longer post about my thoughts on this film. The acting is great and I liked the cinematography along with the soundtrack. Sometimes I wished I had better film vocabulary so I could think and talk about movies more clearly
He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind, and the fool shall be servant to the wise in heart.
Reading #
- Going Postal by Terry Pratchett: This book was so funny. Just a really good time.
- Best American Humor by Various Authors: I guess I’m not really into 1800s humor.
- An Occurence at At Owl Creek Bridge by Ambroise Bierce : very dark.
- The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe
- Head On by John Scalzi
- A Frod in the Fall by Linnea Sterte: the art is gorgeous. And you can see the Naruto inspo.
- Meadowlark by Greg Ruth and Ethan Hawke : Greg Ruth’s use of sepia and style that mimics both Western film and 20 century comics creates a hard to put down story about a topic that I don’t tend to voluntarily read about: coming of age. Coop discovers his father, the man he idolizes, is not what he seems. He tags along with his father to work in a day that starts off normal but quickly devulges into a journey to save his family from his father’s mess.
- Iron or The War After by SM Vidaurri
- The Holocaust on Trial by DD Guttenplan
Covid 19 #
I’m writing this mainly so I don’t forget. On the second to last week of December, I got Covid. I felt horrible for 3 days. All I did was sleep, be awake for 10 minutes and then right back to sleep. I slept so much that my back ached. I tried to force myself to stretch but it was too much for my tired soul. All I wanted for those three days was to hide under a blanket with no sound or light. I had the body aches, soar throat and fluctuating tempratures. But the headaches. I hadn’t had headaches that bad since I was blacking out a few years ago. They were intense and piercing. Nothing I did, no cold med or head med or tea could alleviate my pain. I also had no appetite. It was bad enough I asked my roomates to remind me when to eat. And I basically subsided on water and soup. So much soup.
Chess #
I fell off the bandwagon with studying chess. This year I want to be more rigorous. I got beginner work books and I wish to actually go through both of them. It’s hard going to the chess club while also trying to balance my other interests.
I’ve abandoned scrabble. Turns out I wasn’t that interested in it to begin with but I felt like I was because my Braille instructor really liked it.
Web Design #
2022 brought many updates to this site which make it run faster (thanks 11ty Sharp). I added footnotes and a table of contents. The site also got a whole new redesign (I got tired of purple and yellow). I also refactored the messy code and actually wrote some of my own JS. I’m thinking about moving the menu and getting rid of tags and also maybe cull the Java page. Hmm.
Yesterday I read a lovely blog post about Animorphs by Tania Rascia and a personal post about the difficulties of being with parents by Robin Rendle. Some people I’ve known on the internet for a while are making their blogs more personal, whimsical and overall loosy goosy. This year I want to read more posts like these. I’m not in the mood to get life advice from strangers on the internet that are vague. I like these reflective pieces. They feel real. This kind of writing is aspirational. To have such good prose and also be vulnerable, free and fun. I mean, I get a bit nervous about admitting my love for Animorphs or anything really. Some may say this site is already loosy goosy. But it could be MORE loosy goosy.
I should tidy my portfolio. It is truly a dissarray. I should also finish the JS course I started a while ago:
Bob Tabor is such an amazing teacher.
For the New Year #
In 2023 I want to continue to tend to this blog. I want to be brave and share my oppinions and I also want to write more technical posts. I’d like to better explain things…if only for myself.
I guess my overall new years resolution is to improve my communication skills.
My continued goals from the previous years is still:
- Get fit
- Continue to get better at cooking healthy delicous food
- Be better at taking the initiative-especially with friends. I still struggle with reaching out and asking friends to catch up.
- Improve my Spanish-I need to create a SMART plan for this
- Improve chess
- My Braille skills are atrophying. I MUST stop this.
- Perhaps it’s because I work in a very political area but I’d like to learn how to get involved in local politics. Specifically, I want to learn about how decisions are made about transportation (esp for non drivers).