So here’s the beginning of my annual review of myself for the year. I’m starting this on the 12th of December and while a lot can happen from now until the new year I think I can spend some time speaking on the bulk of this year’s experience. I could reference some of the things I’ve written but I’m going to start with whatever pops into my head first. This was a year of self discovery for me. I had to sit down and look at a reflection that I did not like. I had to sit with very uncomfortable truths about myself that I must now deal with. I thought I was self aware. I am not. I was so wrong about who I thought I was.

This one is a doozy yet again. It’s not quite my birthday yet, but just like last year I decided to take an extra day of time to really think about how my last year was. Let met just say from the jump that much of it also feels like a blur. I’m just going to throw some things on here and see if anything pops up. I think I’ll start with the biggest change I made this year which was to work on myself physically. It is by far what stands out for me the most.

I haven’t written in a long time but I wanted to come back on this day and put down some thoughts. That’s because tomorrow starts by birthmonth and I wanted to get a head start on writing my year in review. For the last couple of years or so I’ve been taking the opportunity on my birthday to specifically look back on my year and just reflect. This year was kind of a doozy and it’s hard to pinpoint where to start so I guess the beginning is a good place. I’ll have you know that it feels like most of this year has been a blur but at the same time I did write alot during this year because it was the most emotionally taxing for me. For a variety of reasons.

So it’s that time of the year again. A new year has passed and it’s time to look back. 27 was a special year for me I think. I would have never guessed it was going to be last year. I didn’t even publish my 26 - Year in Review but I think I’ll put them both up today. I had started writing that one a full week before I turned 27 but for some reason I didn’t put it up. So let’s get to the shits with the biggest decision I made as a 27 year old: moving out of my parents place.

It’s that time of the year again. I will be visiting this post several times over the course of the week. My birthday was on a Sunday this year, but I also had to work which sucked. I honestly didn’t want to write but moving forward I’m going to find pockets of un-ideal time to write in because I think it’s important. My stance on writing hasn’t changed at all. Even though I haven’t published anything since last year, I’ve had many motivated moments prompted lengthy diatribes. As I type right now, I’m at work and I shouldn’t be doing this at all, but this is what I mean by un-ideal. I’m writing this post birthday this year. I want to give myself the opportunity to really look back at different aspect of my last year and reflect on it.

The following was written off the cuff in a starbucks on the day of my birthday. I did not read this over so take these errors for what they are.

I’ve been putting this off for quite some time but I just want to go over some observations about my last year. What I did and didn’t do, how it went and what I want to do going forward. I going to start with saying that I want to accomplish next year. It’s not too much but I think some small changes will make a big difference. I want to write more. I think writing is the biggest flexor of my mind and by far the easiest and best way for me to express myself. I have a lot of thoughts that I want to pour out in the world and I think writing is pivotal to me achieving my ideas. I want to also improve my writing so another thing I want to do is read more. In 2015 I did a really good job with this and for some reason I didn’t continue that. So far that’s all I want to add to 2017.

Here’s a bit of an update on where I’ve been since my last post.

Yesterday was my last day as a 23 year old. I’m not one to ever celebrate, let alone acknowledge my birthday. In fact, I go to great lengths so that as few people as possible know it. This year I’m taking a new approach. I’m acknowledging my birthday as a true new year. Not like the regular new year celebrated on January 1st, but a more intimate and introspective year in review.If anything, what I’m celebrating is past accomplishments and not the future. Because, well, I haven’t done anything yet.

I use to think one needed to be to be an expert of writing to write/publish something. This initially prevented me from writing, for fear that I would get called out. I thought my lack of experience was as obvious as a mole on someone’s face. In retrospect I realize how dumb that thought is. Anyone who wants to write can and should write.

How does someone truly deserve something? It’s an interesting question that is often asked introspectively. Do I really deserve this? Whether it’s good or bad, judging how much someone deserves is hard. Humans are terrible judges of whether they deserve something or not. People are so hard on themselves that they only think they deserve bad and not good. How many times have you heard someone utter the phrase “I’m going to hell”?

As awesome as ideas are I can’t help but to feel how overrated they are. It’s to the point where everytime I hear a new idea I get disappointed. Not because the idea is bad, but because the person will never carry that idea out. What if we explored every idea we had?

The title was taken from a take radio host from GTA V. It was said ironically to point out the fact that being unique, in a roundabout way points back to commonality. “If everyone is unique, no one is.” Is that really true? Is it possible for us to run out of unique people? Are there common things among unique people? Do those common things make them common ? Why do people want to be unique? Is the road less travel really the best?

Today I’m posting a quick thought on a video I enjoyed. It’s created by SourceFed host William Haynes. I don’t know when I first started enjoying SourceFed, but I can safely say that I’ve enjoyed the evolution of Will. Every now and again I would stumble upon a video from sourcefed, look at the headline and just roll my eyes at it. Since then, I’ve learned to appreciate the cast as a group of talented young people that try to make the news slightly more paletable for millenials(and younger people).

Just a quick post on something I’m working on. I’ve been wanting to do a podcast in some form for a while now. In the spirit of pursuing my intrest I’m going to announce a test I’m conducting. The test involves voicing over some of my previous blog posts. This way they’ll be available in a text and audio form. I’m really just trying to find the best medium for saying what I want to say. Maybe the next logical step is video? The hope is that the test will allow me to start easy and get used to the process of editing audio. I haven’t thought too much about how it will be available, although, I think soundcloud is a good start. Also, take a look at the photo of mic. This is the actual mic that I’ll be using in the podcast test. Photo was taken by me in my room with the Nikon D3300. My room is basically a cave so this camera did really well in low light. That’s all for now. I’ll catch you in the next post.

I like being productive as much as the next guy but I don’t want to be consumed by it. When I find a new interest, I become obsessed with it. Unfortunately, many times this leads to me burning out and having an aversion to it. I don’t mean to do it. I guess I just get really excited because learning something new is the most awesome feeling one can have. With the amount of information that’s available on the internet, this is a feeling anyone(with internet) can have literally everyday. When I decided I wanted to pursue a career in web development about a 9 months ago I quickly entered the rabbit hole.

There are many reason to like John Green. Here’s one. In this Ted Talk he introduces the idea of the internet being the new frontier for learning. I couldn’t agree more. As I wrote before, there is more information on the internet than I can ever hope to read about in my life. As I type, millions are hitting publish on their posts and releasing it into the world. I liked his criticism of the traditional educational system of his youth, which is largely unchanged today. As a youth, education seemed like a series of arbitrary hurdles to him. Seeing the end goal of the hurdles – “a good job”, was enough to turn him off from learning(and school in general).

Today was pretty eventful. Have you ever had the type of day where you only got like two things done and it was enough to make the whole day awesome? Well, that’s what happened to me today. First bit of awesome was that it was labor day and it meant the day off for me. I didn’t really need a day off, but when the government and my workplace agree on giving me a day off, well, I’m not even mad. You would think this means that I was going to sleep in all day and walk around in my pajama’s but my morning was far from that. I woke up around 6, ate breakfast and then laid down to think. In my head I thought about one thing: getting a computer chair. Now, I already have a computer chair, but it’s like 10 years old and it stinks and I don’t feel comfortable on it. It’s baffling that it took me 10 years to realize that I need a new chair. Recently, I’ve been thinking on how to treat myself good. It’s weird to even type that out. As I can almost hear the sigh in someone reading this.

Here’s a video I like because of how it peels back the identities behind language. Part of socialization is adapting to an evironment’s social conventions, language being one of them. This doesn’t speak of a different language per se, but more so a way of speaking that demonstrates an high level of articulation. In this talk Jamila Lyiscott bring together her work, friend and home language to an audience that would surely judge her, had she only spoke the latter two. Language is that which helps us communicate. It is socially constucted. It is beautiful. It is unbounded. It is human.

Over the last two years I’ve had an increased appreciation for reading and writing(Post on that in the future). Currently my chosen style for reading has been on a kindle paperwhite. It’s an e-paper display so it’s easy on the eyes, and it can be read in the sunlight. I think it’s the perfect blend of having a paper book in digital form. My room isn’t that big, so it helps that I can have unlimited number of books that take up no space. Anywho, I thought I would share some of the books that are currently on my kindle. Some read some not. I know it’s possible to have to many unread books, so I don’t buy another one until I’ve finished reading at least 1. In a future post, I’ll write about why I chose the book and what I took away from it after giving it a read. Just viewing the list will give you an indication as to where my current state of thinking is. Okay enough text. Here’s the list:

Last year I graduated from college and for the first time I would no longer have the title of student. It was both liberating and frightening. I had freedom to do what I want, but I missed being a student. Saying I was a student was kind of a shield, looking back on it. If someone asked me if I worked, I would reply that I was a student.(BTW I commend all the students who also worked, I did it too during my last years in college and it drained me). When I wasn’t working, it was a good excuse for not having a job and it was a good way of convincing my neighbors that I’m not “up to no good”. I guess another part I liked about being as student was being in an simulated environment where you were free to make mistakes. The consequences for failing in “real life” is much more intense which discourages people from taking risks. Nobody really considers time in school real(even though it is). You always hear older folks say upon graduation, “now it time to experience the real world”. Graduation tore up my relationship of being a student like a close friend randomly deciding to move across the country forever. I missed the diversity of topics I could learn from. My last semester was filled with the following electives(because why not): Computer Security, Mythology, Renaissance Art History, Sociology of Sports, Fiction, Personal Psychology. Graduating meant that I would that I would never be able to learn about these things again(or did it?). As a Computer Science student I enjoyed all of my non-computer course more(more on this in another post).

Today is a great Saturday morning to sip on my coffee and ponder stuff. As an aspiring web developer, the most valuable advice I’ve come across has been : “check your ego at the door.” Before the creating of this blog, I told myself repeatedly that it had to be the most web develop-y, technically complex, and physically demanding project I’d ever make. Why? Well, it’s kind of intuitive. The field of web development / related professions are becoming increasingly popular meaning competition is at an all time high. I figured I needed something amazing to blow people out of the water. There’s even competition among learning platforms for teaching web-dev. Don’t believe me? Consider this. How many online learning courses for web dev existed 3 or 5 years ago. How many are there now? If you’re in the community, you know this a huge business. Part of this leads into the over abundance information we have, which makes it kind of hard to start. Thats another blog post on its own.

Sup. You have no idea how much of a hassle this was to set up. I’m not sure which was harder, physically setting it up, or making my mind up. You see, indecision is the bane of my existence. I don’t mean to do it. I think that most of the time I get caught up trying things to work perfectly. I recently heard a podcast where they mentioned the phrase “Perfection is paralysis.” If everyone waited for the perfect thing to do it would never be done. This is a huge lesson for me because I over-think just about everything. I wouldn’t consider myself a perfectionist but I sometimes think that I like thinking more than doing. Whenever I have to do something, I rather read and learn about it rather than actually do it. Enough is enough. This is the first straw. I am finally “doing”. You may relate to this, and if you do, go out and do something! Stop reading about it. Just do it! (Please don’t sue me Nike) This is my first and hopefully not my last post. It’s a relief to finally have something done. Hopefully I will get addicted. You have no idea. This didn’t even worked when I first typed it up. This isn’t the theme wanted. Hopefully one lesson learned among many. UGHHHHHH