january 2024

new resolutions!

bet you forgot about this huh!?!? valentine's day and everything. i kind of did too.

nice weather, victoria

Although I’ve still been desperately missing daylight hours (and ruing the day daylights savings was adopted), it’s been sunny this month!

ahhh yes

resolutions

I was looking back at what I wrote last year and it looks like I didn’t record any resolutions for 2023! Which is weird since I was pretty consistent about doing it the past five years.

Anyways, here’s what I’ve put together for 2024:

• always be sore (from training), unless injured or sick

• maintain a caloric deficit for some amount of time

• take Spanish lessons

• organize group trips

• volunteer once a week at least five times

• fill the watercolour notebook I got for christmas

• hold a handstand for one minute

• do a standing backflip

• go sailing in the summer

server

I bought a server this month. I can do fun things on it. I’ve been using Cloudflare Tunnels to expose my services on the web.

a shelf

I built a shelf in my room to hold my things!

the shelf building process

weightlifting

I’ve been doing resistance training in some shape or form for the past couple years. Initially mostly for aesthetic, then later for the health benefits as well.

Ever since December, I’ve been more diligent about training and it’s become an important part of my routine. I’m writing this to explain why I’ve come to appreciate it.

Measurable outcomes. That’s almost entirely why.

In the past, I’ve stayed fit other ways. Running, playing ultimate, climbing, biking. It’s often hard to quantify stuff with these. On a run the weather is variable; your mood; your shoes; the route you take; the traffic lights, etc. How do you measure your individual performance in a team sport? Points scored? Climbing/bouldering depends on how difficult the routes are, who set them, etc.

Weight lifting minimizes that variability. It’s the same barbell, the same weights, the same bench, etc. Conversely, this is also what makes lifting boring (and all those other sports exciting).

For me, the fun part about lifting has been increasing my performance over time. And not getting injured.

It’s pretty cool how bringing your body close to failure triggers it to adapt and grow. Almost like an analogy for life! It’s crazy.

(I’ve been training bench press, overhead press, squats, deadlifts and some combination of dumbbell exercises)

pantheon

Have you heard of the Apple Vision Pro? If so, this TV show will blow your mind. If not, ignore this section.

Pantheon is an animated show set in the near future that involves VR, AI, uploaded intelligence and a bunch of other interesting stuff. Importantly, they explain these technologies well and are accurate about their use (I think).

The show has changed my perspective on AI. It’s given me a clearer view of the future of society. Or at least the future that Silicon Valley believes in.

If, somehow, we achieve AGI, things are going to be crazy. This show has made that potential reality scarier. We might have to turn the internet off.

job

I've had the chance to reflect on my job over the break. Work sucks. Not my job in particular, just work in general. It takes up so much time! I’d rather spend more time with my friends and family. I'd rather be sailing somewhere. I’d rather be building something out of wood. I’d rather be learning how to grow crops.

I like my job, but not more than those other things.

I’ll write more about this later.

the end

Thanks for making it this far 🥰

See you next month!!