Today is the seventh month anniversary of my relationship. If we were still together...I never thought of myself as a person who can't keep a relationship going, but I haven't had many romantic experiences.Yesterday was the Chinese Valentine's Day, and I spent it with my ex blocked. I hope this will convey the message clearly. After-sales service, I suppose. The best thing I can do for her is to help her move on. This is also the best thing I can do for myself.Today, incidentally, also happens...
Written on August 8, 2019
For more than a year now, I've been adding functionality to a new revision of my website. It started from just the presentation, but now I've been working on the editor for making posts. Both the first and the second versions of my website had used the editor from the Dojo Toolkit, which has served me well, except for a few small issues. But, its age is definitely showing, and is now in a group of editors commonly referred to as "legacy" editors. However, in my search for a replacements, I discovered...
Written on July 5, 2019
It's been 9 years since I started working full-time. The day I started working was memorable because it was the day after Memorial Day. At the time, I was young and lost. I knew the direction I wanted to go in because I had just been derailed from the path I was previously going on. I was at a crossroads, with the choice of either trying to get back onto the path I was previously going on, of being a full-time serving one, bringing Jesus to people, to go back to school to study, or to commit...
Written on May 28, 2019
Last year didn't turn out the way I expected, despite meeting most of the goals I had set for myself. This year will be quieter. I need to refocus and realign my life. A turn of direction. Repentance, if you will. Less extravagance, more saving. Less getting to know new people, more developing existing relationships. Less outward exploration, more inward improvement. And, hopefully, by the 10th year since my graduation from the FTTA, I will have gotten 80% done with reading the Life-Studies,...
Written on January 2, 2019
Disclaimer: I will be explaining the whole series, so there will be spoilers.
Perhaps one of the most misunderstood series, Neon Genesis Evangelion has been the subject for many liberal and imaginative interpretations. In addition, due to the public's general confusion and outrage at the latter episodes, the creator has been forced to rewrite the series with subsequent movies. This is my third time watching the series. Either I got smarter or more mature (or more crazy), but everything made...
Written on December 15, 2018
This is an age-old question that I've been asked before, typically by people who wanted to gauge my level of expertise as a programmer. For me, what was telling, was that even though I didn't know the answer, when I asked them what the answer was, I never got a clear answer from them neither. This morning, as I was laying in bed, unable to sleep, I decided to get up, and search once again, for the answer. The last time I asked Google about this, years ago, I did not get a satisfactory answer. ...
Written on December 3, 2018
Over the past couple of weeks, I've had some extra free time. I think I did a good job putting that time to use by redoing the Finance section of my website, tweaking and extending its capabilities. Specifically, I retroactively went back and added all the businesses that I had spent money with. It's revealed some interesting trends. First, a graph of my spending:
I think it's interesting that aside from the general picture of my spending increasing over time, I see a...
Written on December 2, 2018
In the past two months, I switched my phone from my trusty and venerable Moto X (1st gen, 2013) to a Sony Xperia Z5 Compact (circa 2015). However, due to a strange Lollipop MMS texting issue, I was forced to switch to a Sony Xperia Z3 Compact (circa 2014). Even though Sony is one of the better manufacturers in allowing users to unlock their bootloaders, it does come with a few tradeoffs:
Voided warranty
Loss of DRM-related features
SD card storage capacity
fancy...
Written on November 3, 2018
The last month has been both smooth sailing, as well as a change from the past. A few months ago, on a whim, I had committed to restricting myself from the Japanese restaurant I frequented to two times per month. The effect of that decision is starting to show up on my smaller credit card bills. Combined with no mortgage payment anymore, and it was time for rejoicing. It's been so long that I'd forgotten how nice it was to not live paycheck to paycheck.
Another result of my self-imposed...
Written on September 19, 2018
This past weekend marked the end of my 5 year journey. It all started a little more than 5 years ago. At the time, I was living with my parents and my grandma in my parents' house. I was working at a steady job. My mom was complaining about the house being too small and too cramped. My dad wasn't bothered, but he was fine with us looking at houses, just to appease my mom. At the time, the housing crash was still recent, and the housing market was still recovering. On the positive side, prices...
Written on August 2, 2018
From time to time, people will ask me questions about my work in software development. Typically, I find myself unprepared to answer these questions. It's not that my work is particularly challenging; it's simply that I've never dedicated time to carefully think about how I would describe my work. Thus, I typically focus on the output or product of my work, rather than the process of what it is that I do to get to those results.
Fortunately, I worked on a small side project in the last two...
Written on July 14, 2018
So, my brother turned 30 about half a week ago, on Wednesday. He came up from Austin, and took the rest of the week off. It was fun, hanging out and chatting with him. It was encouraging to see that he's making a more conscious effort to take care of his health, like cutting down on sugar and caffeine, and exercising. On the other hand, he's also complaining unnecessarily about how he's getting old.
We ate together a lot in these days - with my former co-workers, with his former classmates,...
Written on June 18, 2018
Time really flies when I look back. I've already been working for 8 years (I started working full-time the day after Memorial Day, 8 years ago). I think I've really become a seasoned veteran, in terms of adapting to the workplace. When I look back on these 8 years, I think I have really been blessed with solid employment (except for a three month period - due to a choice I made due to my youth and inexperience at the time). I have really changed, when I really consider my mindset. In some ways,...
Written on May 29, 2018
The last few weeks have been characterized by a feeling similar to when I realize I've beaten a game. It's really a wonderful feeling: the absence of stress, the assurance of victory, but with ongoing excitement. Before beating the game, it is stressful toiling, not knowing whether I'll make it or not. After beating the game, it is boring idleness, goal-less and aimless. In general, I have been very happy the last few weeks, and I realize this is the time to be happy.
I took a day trip...
Written on May 16, 2018
As I get older, I find myself travelling down the same path I saw others going down before me. The destination is sometimes what I, as a teenager, had sought to avoid. As far back as 6 years ago, I had started realizing that there are reasons for everything that happen, and now, I am at the point where I clearly see that it's not a simple matter of deciding what I want to be or do today. Realities, situations, and past experiences all determine who I am and what I do yesterday, today, and tomorrow. ...
Written on April 22, 2018
Since adding searching capability to my website, I was able to analyze my posts like never before. Combined with me finally loading in my diary of pre-website entries (private, sorry, readers, only viewable for me, but believe me, it's better for you that way), this gave me a record of my thoughts during various times in my life spanning almost 14 years, or almost half my life. Thus, there were some observations I could make.
Putting aside the distinct changes in character and the mellowing...
Written on April 19, 2018
Behold, the most significant addition to my site in years: search capability. I'm pretty sure this was in the original plan for my site, but in the early years, it was a combination of not having a good plan to implement and not having enough posts to need searching capability that meant I never got around to doing it. Then, two years ago, I was exposed to Elasticsearch. I was pleased by its ease of use, robustness, capabilities, and features. I had a good solution. Now, that I have almost 150...
Written on March 31, 2018
The last few weeks have witnessed a host of changes to my life. One thing after another meant that I didn't really have time to make a post. But, now that things have settled down, that is exactly what I am doing here.
It all started on March 2, when I bought a new (used) car: a 2006 Honda Accord coupe with a manual transmission. I had first seen this car more than a month ago, at the end of January. The previous owner, a nice lady who had worked at the same company as me, was quitting...
Written on March 24, 2018
It's been almost a month since my last update. These few weeks have been quite eventful. I've tasted success with two projects I had going on, and I've had other good news and changes to my life.
The first project was something I tried last May: growing wasabi. Real wasabi is actually quite rare, because it is very slow-growing, but at the same time very perishable. The wasabi paste or powder that people frequently buy is typically composed of horseradish, which is a relative to wasabi,...
Written on February 21, 2018
There are probably a few things that, if people were to keep in mind, would solve a lot of problems, relieve a lot of stress, and make people a lot happier. I call these the great lessons in life:
Learn what you have to care about and what you don't have to care about - it is not a requirement in life to please everyone you meet; the people who will actually make a meaningful impact on your life are very few, by comparison.
Learn what you can afford and what you can't afford...
Written on January 28, 2018