A few weeks ago, I reached a streak of 1000 days of Duolingo. After almost three years of consistently studying Mandarin every day (except for the stray streak freezes), I then quit with no intention of continuing. Here’s my story with Duolingo.
I never really understood birdwatching. There are plenty of birds out there, and it never really struck me that there was anything special to seeing one in particular. It’s there, you see it, it’s gone, and that’s apparently a successful outing. However, birds have cropped up as a point of interest recently for a few […]
Since the beginning of the year, we have watched a few TV shows. I don’t have in-depth critique or reviews of most of them, but perhaps all of them in some will amount to one good blog post. Of course, there are lots of spoilers, so skip around. Star Trek: Discovery Season 4
This post is a followup to Part 1 where I reflect specifically on cases where I have learned, grown up, or adapted to new circumstances. Physical Books This one is a cop-out because I still actually prefer reading ebooks for myself. However, I have a new reason to want to have physical books around. I […]
In 2019, I set a goal to retain more of what I learned. I enjoy consuming a variety of educational media in books, newsletters, podcasts, and more, but I had difficulty retaining it much of it. By the end of that year, I called it a mixed success with a few takeaways: Mental reviews immediately […]
Twice a year, we all ask ourselves, “So what was the point of this in the first place?” Well, I thought I knew why we change our clocks, but apparently I was wrong. Here’s assorted list of Daylight Saving Time facts. Some of these are easily picked out of the Wikipedia article, but a few […]
I always find it interesting when I change my mind about something. It can happen at any time for any reason, and I might not become conscious of it for awhile. However, when I actually realize it, it’s an interesting moment. It’s hard to remember my previous mindset and reconcile why it happened. Some amount […]
At the beginning of the year, I set three goals. I already wrote about baking 52 batches of cookies, so I’ll only cover the other two goals here. Re-establish Routines Before 2021, I had been trying to develop better habits and routines. At the beginning of the year, I was a new parent, and my […]
I recently listened to a talk by Bill Burnett about finding meaning in work. Burnett is an instructor of the tremendously popular Designing Your Life college class and book, and one particular idea that resonated with me was trying to figure out the sort of impact we each have in our work. He laid this […]
When the stakes are high, I tend to look away. In 2010, my dorm mates watched the Olympics gold medal hockey game between Canada and USA while I hid in my room studying. I couldn’t bear to be in a room full of Americans if Team Canada were to lose. Instead, I missed watching Sid […]