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2017 was a good year, all-in-all. A very good year, now that I think about it. I quit my job (actually no– that was Dec 2016). I traveled 4 months around Southeast Asia, which maybe someday I’ll write about. But suffice to say for now that I met some incredible people, witnessed generosity and warmth and kindness I had forgotten existed, set foot on some of the wonders of the Earth (both natural and man-made), made friends from different corners of the globe, and took a million photos that nobody will ever see at my current rate of photo editing. I stepped light-years outside my comfort zone, and I survived!

Then came back to the US. Spent some time in Austin reconnecting with my parents, sister, and Dad’s fiance Martha. Reconnected with old friends, discovered new places in my old hometown, and met some new people. Set out on a mission to drink coffee at every coffee shop in Austin, and got damn close. Taught myself linear algebra and python in preparation for grad school. Wandered around the greenbelt. Generally soaked up the sun and unwound, reveling in the ease that is life in the US with a car and family and money and friends, before heading back to Colorado to prepare for grad school.

Caught up with my Boulder friends. Found a room on Craigslist (surprisingly hard), moved in with Jeffrey and Guri to a nice house on Pine St. Went on hikes, took some more photos that will likely remain shrowded in my hard drive. Wandered around Denver. Drank some beer. Familiarized myself with CU. Then CU started in September, and the rest is all a blur of new faces, working harder than I’ve ever worked before, learning and relearning calculus, linear algebra, proofs, linguistics, programming, machine learning frameworks, etc. Relearning how to learn. But this time around, I was back at school with a purpose. This time, I would do it right. The motivation held, got a bit worried at the end there. But made it! And I really like the subject matter. Machine learning draws from so many different fields, and the applications are endlessly exciting. It was a darn good year.

Of course, there were downsides. Some things I would like to fix for next year.

Specifically, here are my self-improvement goals for the coming year:

  1. Put more work into maintaining connections with friends and family.
    • I tend to prioritize the immediate–work, food, studying, people in the same city–over anything not in the same room as me. I get lost in my head. Need to be better about conciously making plans/just talking to people.
  2. Plan better.
    • I was better about this in 2017, but still needs improvement. Spontenaity is fun, but sometimes spots fill up.
  3. Work smarter
    • I swear, Netflix is the bane of my existence. I love a good story, but when that story takes 24 straight hours to tell, my academic and social life can take a hit.
  4. WORK OUT!
    • I worked out fairly regularly in the first half of 2016, and man could I feel a difference. Other people noticed too. 2017 traveling was not conducive to a regular workout schedule, so I reverted to my old lazy nerd ways. Not good. I’m really starting to notice my poor endurance, bad posture, and general lethargy. There’s always time for a 20-min workout.
  5. Eat better! For Hanukkah this year, my sister got me a shirt emblazoned across the chest with “Body by Burrito”. It’s accurate.
  6. Talk to more strangers.
  7. Go on more hikes. The mountains are right friggin there!
  8. Keep a bullet journal. I tried starting this last year but dropped it. Also write more in general. Clearly my writing needs work.

There are also some hobbies I’d like to pick up:

  1. Play guitar 3-5x per week, consistently.
  2. Get into serious rock climbing
  3. Social dancing (swing/blues)
  4. Learn about whiskeys
  5. Printing/editing my photos
  6. Improv?
  7. Video editing?

Professional goals:

  1. Get involved with active research at CU
  2. Maintain high motivation and performance in machine learning topics in class
  3. Get a summer internship

That’s it for now. Good luck future me.