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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everybody!
It's the holidays, and for this month's blog, I want to take a brief reflection on what I blogged about this year. Follow me as we look back on (or explore for likely your first time,) what I wrote this year.
A Blog? No Way!
My first ever blog on this website. Here we see Doaf full with optimism that he'll have a consistent posting schedule. It's also the first time I ever got a comment on my blog, and the only time I ever did as of now since I privated my profile sometime and forgot that I did. I will say a few things regarding this post later in the blog, but I will say this. I still have trouble grappling with what exactly my future looks like. I have an idea on who I want to be, but that goal is a bit hazy, and the path there is opaque. That's not to say I don't make plans, I make a lot of them nowadays. I just can't help but feel directionless at times.
Happy City Review Posted!
My first book review, back when I thought it would be nice to come up with a personal ender to my blogs, like I am writing a letter. I still stand by my newfound thoughts on city design and transportation, however one thing I do regret is saying that I am "pushing back against my car-dependent world." That may be true in the sense of how I travel and consume content related to transportation and urban design, but I don't advocate for it. This is I want to change in the future, though I how I do that is another dilemma.
A Review of the Xootr MG and the Reality of Kick Scooters
I seem to have realized the difficulty of consistent blogging. I somewhat regret the conclusion I came to with this product. Retrospectively, while the Xootr was expensive, it was also a fast tool to get where I wanted to be, and had I had a longer return window, and longer time with it I may have reconsidered returning the product. That being said, this is coming from the retrospect of me being at home, where food and entertainment are more scattered compared to the university (yes, I am in university), among other things I don't want to get into for privacy reasons. I would have a better use case at home compared to university, but the steep price of the product combined with its niche use cases may have been why I opted out of the scooting life. Nothing to say I can't come back.
Rambling about
The most I have gotten out of Spacehey's text editor. I guess I just don't really need the extra bells and whistles, but its nice how they are there. As I am writing this, I realize that I already exposed myself to being in school, though I guess you didn't know I was in a university. BTW that ending bit regarding the movie was my former roommate playing a movie on his TV. Seriously, who brings a speaker to their shared, small room and watches movies and shows all day long? Thankfully I am no longer in that situation. Nothing much else to say other than... yeah, I still wish I had more time alone to just, figure out myself, both in the short-term and long-term.
How Simple Instructions can be Messed Up (Ramblin about)
I like to think I give people the benefit of the doubt when things like this happen. When people misinterpret, extrapolate, or completely miss certain instructions. A lot of that didn't really apply to this blog, but I guess what I am trying to say is that I sympathize with why games often feel the need to idiot-proof their game so people can get the point. People just think differently from each other, or they're just dumb. I am dumb.
First Reads: Stumbling On Happiness
I think this is the only series where I will still have my personal ender just to say the same thing. I think overall, I wish I had the interest to reread these books. I bought a copy, but I haven't reread it at all, and that goes for all of the books I reviewed. I guess unlike games and music, and prefer to read something new.
I'm Back!
Oh no, I thought I could do weekly entries again. Well that didn't last long. (Also this text has weird spacing oddities? I don't know how to fix that though maybe writing this blurb will, only I will know of this specific case if it does get fixed.)
Eulogy to Reddit (As I Know It)
Call me a coward, but I still use reddit. To be clear though, the experience is rough. I use the old reddit layout that's still available, mostly because it's the least restrictive. For desktop, installing a old reddit redirect extension is fine enough, but for mobile its frustrating having to change every link to redirect to the old reddit version. I long for the days where I can just use Apollo. I wish to I could also leave the place, but clearly the posters haven't. Maybe the platform has gotten worse, though I guess I stick to only a few, more smaller subreddits that I don't really feel the effects outside of a worse experience. I do not want to give reddit anymore of my data however. Perhaps I should try using RSS, it probably will be significantly less feature filled (I suspect I will even lack the ability to view comments from my news aggregation), but its a step forward until either alternatives fill in the hole or I quit the platform wholesale (or it gets better, but I don't have my hopes ups for that).
First Reads: The Most Good You Can Do
Here we see a refinement to the first reads format, splitting the review up to 3 sections. I'll go more into that later, however I will say that this book may be my book of the year. To be frank, I really wanted to actually donate to causes I care about and reframe my life in hopes to contribute more to the good of the world. This book, it's teachings, and it's resources have resonated with me the most, and I hope to one day own the book for future reference.
First Reads: Happy People Are Annoying
I finally found a flow that worked, and since I have nothing much else to say that can't be said in the future, I'll go into why I created this structure. Review was intended to give me a space to talk about what I liked about the book, my overall thoughts, and how it affected me. Overall Recommendation
was created to not only give my final thoughts on how worthy the book
is to being read, but also zero in on whether it was a good for someone
like me, and if it would be a good fit for a specific audience. Buy It or Borrow It
was created not to discourage the supporting of authors, let's get that
straight. Of course, it would be ideal for a viewer to purchase every
book they want to read to financial support the author. However,
situations vary. People may not have the money to buy a book, and more
importantly, people forget that libraries exist (In my uninformed
opinion, please correct me if I am wrong). If people can't afford the
book, or want to read it themselves to see if it's worthy of their money
and time, then the library is a valuable resource. More than that
though, the library as immensely helped me with my mental health and
growth, and I want to support and uplift their existence in a world that
seems to want to make them a thing of the past.
Reminders, You Should Use Them (Ramblin About)
As an update to this situation, I have moved away from Todoist to another platform, however I don't wish to share right now due to certain concerns that I have with the platform (to clarify, this has nothing to do with it's management or staff, just general, relatively low-priority criticisms of the service) as well as privacy. I don't feel confident enough to do so. In regards to IOS reminders and an calendar supplied by your email service, I can confidently still recommend them. IOS reminders have gotten more powerful with early reminders, something I really like, though I do wish we can have more control with subtasks, like making subtasks of subtasks, or adding/modifying dates and priority within the subtask menu of a main task, or the ability to just type subtasks within the main reminders interface (currently, you can only create a main task, and drag it above another task to make it a subtask).
First Reads: Cooperative Argumentation: A Model for Deliberative Community
It's odd to review a college textbook. Yeah that's about it. A fairly lengthy read but probably pales in comparison to other textbooks that people moreso think about. I forgot I revealed I was a college student here, just goes to show how much you can forget within a year. I'll talk about the star rating later in its respective blog.
First Reads: Overcoming Binge Eating, Second Edition
Yeah this book didn't really fit me despite my enjoyment. It was step in my health and wellness journey that I started earlier in the year, I brought up till this review. In retrospect, I can say that this didn't really affect my wellness journey in a impactful way, and that's ok. Sometimes we need to explore and find what we click with and what we don't. That's a goal that still am tackling to this day. On the topic of my health, I can say that I am making slow, but steady progress.
A Reflection on a Summer of Reading
I'll be honest, it sometimes feels like this blog is a chore. Even as I am writing this, I am more-so skimming/breezing through my blogs and not necessarily reading them through and through to see if I can comment on them. I don't dislike this hobby of mine. This hobby is just part of my wider life, which can sometimes get in the way of my blogging, hence why I switched to a monthly schedule. If this blog ends abruptly after the last blog reflection, then you'll know why, I am tired. I will say regarding the photography book that I do want to get back into photography. I will also say to be wary of disposable cameras, as the process of getting those photos printed costed me $25. There's nothing wrong with this price personally, I just got caught of guard and should've informed myself more. Consider trying to get a used camera, whether that be online or by friends/acquaintances/family. I still need a sd card though.
First Reads Special: Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons 5th Edition & Walkable City 10th Anniversary
I do want to fully read through Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons one day, as I feel like it will further my understanding of privacy. As for me buying it? I'm not so sure, I have plenty of online tools to rely on instead of this, and really the audience I recommended this to is old adults like parents and such (no shame if you aren't in it, travel your privacy journey how you want to). As for Walkable City, I think the book symbolizes two problems I have with my reading style. One, I tend to gameify or try to make reading a constant routine, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, I don't think I give the books that proper attention and more critically, the reflection they deserve.
Ratings are Hard/Why I No Longer Rate My Reviews
Sometimes, you just need to get something out of your chest. This was one of those moments. Having read Stumbling on Happiness, I will say this in retrospect. The sole piece of advice the author explicitly gave regarding finding happiness was to ask or see how other people feel doing or having done the action you are about to take. This is valuable advice that I agree with. I will say to somewhat contradict that statement that you shouldn't necessarily "follow the herd" if you catch my drift. Consider reviews not the end all be all recommendation, but more of a guiding hand to your own decisions. Digest a variety of viewpoints, and understand that people tastes will always be at least slightly different from yours.
Onto a New Page
If someone can help me with sharing your own images on this platform then that would be a good help. I want to know how others do it. My profile is far from complete, and with the recent mobile app I have come to recognize that the background doesn't fill the screen vertically, gonna have to fix that later. I also am looking into making my own website for portfolio/resume purposes. I won't share much of that site's details but I am curious as someone who is poor and privacy concious, what others in my (or in a similar) position have done. Other than that, I will say that in terms of my next blog, it's kind of an open book. I currently have Humankind and The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People under my belt, so I may do a First Reads on them later next year. Think of what I suggested in this blog as, well suggestions rather than strict options. I can go into gaming, or read a fiction book since years ago. I don't know. Hopefully this post gets some activity, but the net is a wide place. Anyways happy 2023 everybody. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Kwanzaa and Hanukkah, and whatever other holiday you will or have celebrate. See you in 2024.
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