Day 54 of improving myself until I can hack like the dude from the Matrix!

Today was crazy productive. I got my tasks done super early today. I finished up at like 3pm and then took the rest of the day for myself. It's great being in this limbo state where I'm still attending school but I'm not writing any exams so I'm at home.

Exercise - I did my usual light workout and then on top of that I added another workout and it hurt. I could barely finish it, I had to lie down for a while after that. I may look really fit but I am not fit at all. I'm getting there though! Eventually I'll be fit. Until then, I gotta keep going.

Reading - I read some Catch 22 today and I struggled, I really battled with that chapter. I don't know why but I was just not feeling it with my reading but I did manage to get through it eventually. It was actually really sad, the book is really humorous and has this absurdist way of depicting war (think Dr Strangelove) but for some reason the chapter that I read today was sad. So, each chapter focuses on a character and in telling the reader about that specific character, the story jumps around and it's actually really cool how non-linear it is as you slowly learn more about new characters with each chapter and get a new piece of the puzzle. Some people say it's confusing, I don't think so. It's not an easy read but it's definitely not as confusing as others make it out to be, as long as you keep in mind what I just said about how each chapter focuses on a specific character.

Writing - I only managed to write my review when my sister came home from school. She was in a rush so I didn't chat to her much but she kept me company while I wrote my review. I'm just now realizing that it took me 3 hours to write it. She got home at 12 and I finished at 3. It's pretty good, I think but I don't feel like promoting it or anything. I'm gonna see what happens. I don't really know much about the meta of Substack so I just kinda do whatever. Also, it must get annoying if I drop a bulletin every day saying  "new review, guys!" One person took pity on me and subscribed to my blog, that was a while ago and I have no idea who did but I checked my analytics and saw that it was someone from Spacehey. Thank you, whoever you are. If you are the person who subscribed to my Substack, don't tell me, I want to keep the mystique. But thank you, my heart goes out to you! I have a new idea for a short story as well, I'll give more info on that when I actually start writing it. That should be tomorrow.

Learn Something New - I learnt some literary theory which is like how to analyze fiction and all that and I'm actually really interested in this stuff. I can't wait to apply it to my reviews. I found a video that went really in-depth on all of it and I'm gonna keep tabs their channel in case she does more of those videos, I think their username is moon! (Yes, with the exclamation mark). It's like super beginner stuff too. Like, the types of analysis and the types of critical lenses.

Guitar - I practiced playing Ramona on guitar and that's just such a fun song to play. If you play guitar and want a good song that's challenging but still beginner friendly. Ramona is your best bet but I'd first recommend learning Scott's version of the song because that one's simple and it has a few barre chords but is a really versatile song, it's easier to play it with barre chords but if you don't know them, you can also play the normal chords. After you know Scott's version, you can learn the Beck version which is the same but with a more complicated chord progression. Other than that, I learnt Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now by The Smiths but only the intro, the chords are easy but the progression is really weird.

Drawing - I drew a spread today and I want to do another art dump, I'm not sure when though but eventually because I'm drawing a lot of stuff that I actually like. I'm still doing anatomy but I think I'm improving greatly. I'm also managing to draw the goofy things, like I showed a page yesterday and I drew a little solid snake, yes, I'm still proud of that. Today, I drew some faces and it was fun. I miss drawing faces. I wish I actually landed a job doing caricatures or not even a job, it's more like a hustle that I was trying to land. Anyway, I used to draw a lot of faces, like exaggerated, cartoony faces and even though that's my strong suit, I think I'm drawing faces better than usual. BTW, did you see my Solid Snake Drawing yesterday!!!! (I will never stop talking about that and I haven't even played Metal Gear Solid). I wish I could though but my pc cannot run Metal Gear Solid at all. I mean the series, it would be a pretty shitty pc if it couldn't run the first MGS but not the other two. When I get a disposable income, I'm buying a pc specifically to play the Metal Gear Solid series. I do lime the song Snake Eater from mgs 3 and I'd also recommend Pillow Talk also from mgs 3.

Do something! - I did something today! I thought I was gonna miss it but I did something! This is the title-sake, this is where the title comes in. I was chatting in the Wubzilla discord with these guys and there's like two types of people in that server, hacker level genius coders and people who know absolutely nothing (me). I was chatting in general about Neocites and also design for some reason, listen, I'm not gonna use my design knowledge for anything other than a neat party trick where my friends point at a building and I can tell them exactly what period of design it comes from. My friend pointed at a pillar and asked me where it came from as a joke and I very seriously told him it was Neoclassical with some Greek elements at the top, somewhat ionic. Anyway, enough about design. I made a neocities account! I'm taking the first step in making my own website and I did the beginner course and it's already a pain. As I was doing that training course, I wanted to log into my reddit account find that guy who said he would make the website for me, pull him by the ear to my computer and tell him to make it for me. He offered to do it for free and I said "no, thank you, I would like to do it for myself" now I actually have to do it for myself. I also downloaded Brakets and I don't know if it's a good code editor but I forgot who but someone told me to use it. So, I'm using it and I struggled with that for a while and then I decided that tomorrow is another day and closed my laptop.

Relaxation - finally! I had the rest of my day to myself and I started watching Squid Girl which is a really stupid anime but I love it, I find it hilarious. I really like the beach setting. I don't know why but it relaxes me and this dumb, stupid anime about squid makes me feel at ease. I watched another episode now, like tonight. I also listened to Rid of Me by PJ Harvey and I never realized how good PJ Harvey was. She's awesome, I'd recommend the song Dry from that album or just listen to the whole thing, you know what? No "or" it's a good album, listen to the whole thing. I also watched The Sopranos again and I always think I'm gonna hate that show but I always end up enjoying it. You know? Just when I thought I was out...THEY PULL ME BACK IN Just this once, Kay, I'll let you ask me about my affairs
Michael, is it true?~
No.
My favorite character in that show, Silvio always says that line and it cracks me up every time, I was making my coffee this morning and I was home alone and talking to myself, quoting Silvio "Just when I thought I was out......THEY PULL ME BACK IN!" There's also a really funny scene from Arthur where they parody the Sopranos and I know it line for line. Called like The altos or something. Anyway, I'm gonna rewatch The Matrix, one of my favorite movies. I can't wait. I remember watching it for the first time and I resonated with it. Like the main character is clearly queer, I made a Matrix playlist when I first watched it and the first song I thought was Queer by Garbage. Yeah, lore drop about me, I'm gay and I didn't know it at the time and I was like, "this character is so cool, but he's so gay so I don't relate to him or anything, I just think he's cool!" And I'm probably going to buy myself a trench coat after I rewatch it. Actually, I think the main character is trans or something, I remember a whole discourse about that. Whatever, I love that movie to death.

Thank you for reading this. I kinda went off the rails at a few points but I hope you enjoyed reading it regardless. The Matrix is just special to me so sorry about that. I wanted to be a hacker when I first saw it, past me would not be proud. I can't wait though, I itching to rewatch it, I wanna watch it so badly, I've been holding off until Friday specifically because it's just a Friday night movie, let's be honest. I don't want to get too into gender and sexuality, all you really need to know is I'm pan and I'm enby. I did really resonate with the Matrix like that was to me what Brokeback Mountain is to gay boys. I don't know why but I felt so seen by The Matrix. I go to this like military adjacent school for boys and it essentially breeds one type of frat boy, conservative, anti-woke guy and I didn't like that, I felt awful because I thought I had to be like that (bear with me though, I was 14 so I didn't understand the concept of not falling into gender roles). Then I watched The Matrix and I was like a different person after watching it, I was confident in myself and I knew I didn't have to be that guy or a guy, I could be a they. Well, it took way longer to get there but still.  Even after so long, I still love The Matrix. I'll drop the line one more time...just when I thought I was out...THEY PULL ME BACK IN! Just this once, Spacehey, I'll let you ask me about my gender.
Slip_moth is it true? (In Italian accent)
No.
Anyway, good bye.