The Doldrums of Summer
The revolving cycle of life just keeps spinning and spinning.
So my last post was January 5th. In that time I had quite the battle with seasonal depression, anxiety, work stress, brain fog and mental things too dark for this post. I will say that although I feel like I am behind in life I have been able to begin to understand these thoughts and feeling. Began to learn from them, slowly chipping away at their foundation to finally free myself from its grasp. Time will tell but this is a step in the right direction. I hope everyone found some solace this summer, to reflect on the past few years and where we will go next.
Life these days
I have been really focused on interview preparation, as these basic skills weaken over time and are needed to be refreshed. You never know when you will need them. In the tech world this is an entirely different dimension. I have been trying to balance that with continuing to work on my game (upgraded to UE5 and couldn’t be happier) while still trying to pivot my career into the AI field. The constant tug in these 3 directions weighs on you over time, but I don’t know how else to do it.
Outside of that I am just trying to enjoy the last few weeks of summer. Living in the Northeast we will soon be hammered by winter so its nice to enjoy the heat and humidity while I can. There is a peacefulness sitting outside. Hearing the birds chirp, the dogs bark, smelling the grills across the neighborhood being fired up. Not gonna lie though, I am terrified of winter. Last year was the worst winter depression I had and I don’t know how I can do it again.
On a side note I have been trying lots of experiments on myself (not like real experiments) by trying different things to help alleviate this brain fog. One of these is cutting out coffee completely. I have been drinking 2-3 cups per day since 2005, and right now I sit at 1 cup in the past 3 weeks and I think I feel pretty good. Yes there are the initial constant headaches and random bought of sleepiness, but that comes with being a caffeine addict. I didn’t quit cold turkey completely, I have replaced it with MUD\WTR (mud water) which is a mushroom coffee alternative. So far I do feel pretty good, but there isn’t a profound quality of life increase.
What I Have Been Playing
Two games that are keeping my attention this week are:
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
I feel in love with the second game on the Nintendo Switch (even if it took me 2 years to complete) and despite a few hours into the first game (Xenoblade Chronicles) I jumped right into this one. I am sucker for a good story and a fun/unique world, and this delivers on both those fronts.
Destiny 2
I know, shocker here, but I am still having tons of fun with this game. Although the current season is winding down (Season of the Haunted) I still enjoy just leveling weapons, grinding loot and the PvP of the crucible.
What I Have Been Reading
The Metaverse (on Amazon)
The metaverse is a word that I found to be associated with a lot of discord in social media. Lots hate it, other’s what to exploit it with shitty micro transactions but few understand the ideas behind it. How other revolutions in technology have lead us to where we are now, and how this concept will be hard to ignore in the future. When I first heard about this and saw the VR rooms with peoples low poly avatars I was skeptical, even joking about it on Twitter. The thing is I can’t stop thinking about it. Very few things in tech these days grab my thoughts, and right now the ideas behind the metaverse holds a chunk of my brain.
Steve Jobs: A Biography by Walter Isaacson (Link Here)
I have owned this book since release like 10 years ago but never really got into reading it. Steve Jobs is a polarizing figure, some love him, some hate him, but you can’t ignore him. Steve Jobs is one of my inspirations in the world, one of my heroes I look up to. As humans we are inherently flawed, but there is beauty in understand how others thing and how others view the world.
The End
Until next week my friends, have a good one. As always you can find me on Twitter @corey_s_ and my small site at https://coreyjs.dev