Week Note #28 - Jan 09 to Jan 15
2025-01-15
- 📅 Truly, how is it already the second week of the year? It doesn't feel like it at all.
- 🚲 I've been trying to rebuild my schedule again. After considering everything that I have going on, I've realized that I don't have the 6 hours to spare to go to the gym. Instead, I'll be using my stationary bike that I bought in the middle of the lockdown years ago. So far I've been hopping on it to watch 30 minutes of Arcane (to keep me normal), and then 30 minutes of a lecture video (so I can feel productive, but I end up having to listen again later so I can take notes however it's nice having an idea of what the lecture is about).
🎓 School
I started the semester yesterday. I'm freaking out. I have soooo much reading to do this semester. A lot of it is dense history texts. Some of it is poetry (a lot of Whitman, thankfully I'm partial to Whitman). I estimated how much time it would take me to do each week of the course depending on my reading and note taking speed. Let's just say it's nigh impossible. My focus this semester is efficiency. Frankly, I'm sweating just writing this blog post. It feels like a waste of time, but I need something to keep me anchored as the weeks go by. Some hobby to make it feel like life isn't all school and work.
🖥️ Work
I'm supposed to transition into both a new role and a new team. I got switched to a team whose tech stack is entirely React. I have dabbled with React before, but nothing substantial. So I will essentially have to learn React in a professional context. I'm nervous, but I'm excited. I've always wanted to modernize my tech stack (Java an be quite uninspiring), but never have the will to do so in my own time. You know what they say, use your job to get paid to learn new things.
📚 Books
I've been slowly cracking away at both Rebecca and Anna Karenina. I also decided to start reading The Secret History all over again?? I really love the book, I think it's my all time favourite. I just love injecting myself into this group of oddball students who are too obsessed with aesthetic.
Along the way I've been reading a smattering of manga.
🎵 Music
Most listened to albums:
Help me I'm starting to listen to the same albums again and again. It's really hard to find albums on my phone, so I just end up listening to what I know I like. I do listen on Spotify desktop (cracked) in order to listen to new music, but that's about it.
- SOS (Deluxe) by SZA - I just had to take a listen to the deluxe version. Honestly, I'm kinda over deluxe versions. Just release the whole thing at once. Or put it on a separate release! Gripe aside, I found that most of the songs I liked, were ones that were already from the original album. It was a good listen, but no new favourite songs were made.
- Lush by Snail Mail
- The Unheavenly Creatures by Coheed and Cambria
- American Idiot (20th Anniversary Deluxe) by Green Day
- The Human Fear by Franz Ferdinand - The latest single from Franz Ferdinand, Hooked was so good, that I needed to listen to the rest of the album. It was decidedly okay in my books. I initially hated the Audacious single , but I think it grew on me because I started singing along to it.
- BB/ANG3L by Tinashe
- KAI - The 1st Mini Album by KAI
- Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES - Okay, I've listened to TANGK on repeat enough. I finally took a careful listen to a different album of theirs. I really like it! Someone once told me that IDLES is a lot more dynamic than what TANGK had to offer. I totally agree. This album was loud, brash, and high energy. I don't think one is better than the other, just different. I appreciated how raw the lyrics were. I came out with a few more favourites, namely June.
