At the end on September (read: in mere hours), I'll be turning 30 and there's still a lot I need to do. I initially wanted to do a check-in post with regards to the Coronavirus pandemic, more or less letting everyone know that I'm still safe and as healthy as I can be. I still do essential work in grocery retail, but still haven't been tested, and so on.
I procrastinated as I often do, but to the point that I kept moving the reminder date forward on my smartphone. Much of that in more recent months is a result of the mental exhaustion of the day job—I also had another job until recently by means of resignation. I would go home, shower like usual, check-up on my social networks (usually just Twitter and sometimes Goodreads), then I would just end up booting up the Switch to play a couple games.
The Switch is also the reason I've been mostly mute online for the past year. It was an unexpected Christmas gift and I have not been into gaming like this since when I lived in Washington state—or more accurately, when I was a kid. It goes without saying that the console has been my way of escaping from the present state—the pandemic, the US (45th's) Administration's continued mismanagement of both it and the country, the day job in general (both pre-pandemic and now), etc.
I'm still working through many of my Friday Reads that I mentioned on Twitter many weeks ago, but most of my time with books has been with Audible (mostly). Listening again to the Hitchhikers' Guide series has brought me great comfort and, out of sheer spontaneity, I'm also revisiting Yahtzee Croshaw's literary backlog—started with Jam, currently on Mogworld.
The stranger, if not inevitable, thing is that I had to unfollow a few of the noteworthy figures who I respected two years ago—people like Peter Bogohossian and James Lindsay—during these uneasy times. If you're here via Twitter, one of my replies may have snuck into the main timeline where I expressed dismay at how both Peter and James view the Black Lives Matter protests and marches that occurred and are still ongoing after the murder of George Floyd. Same thing with Bret Weinstein after I briefly listened to his recent appearance on Joe Rogan* where he expressed similar concerns as Peter and James.
To make a long story short, I cut them out of the timeline for my own sake and mental health. I still follow Iona Italia—who does excellent work with the Two for Tea podcast—along with Helen Pluckrose, Cathy Young, and the Heterodox Academy along side a few other accounts that advocate for viewpoint diversity, but don't dismiss cultural diversity or view it as "the world gone mad". (Or put simply, if they're a guest on Two for Tea, or someone like Cathy mentions them on Twitter, I'll consider them.)
Ironically though, without discovering Bret via Popehat retweets, James and Peter through a conference Bret appeared in, I don't think I would have that "a-ha" moment, in which a personal bubble popped. Or rather, the conference reminded me of those moments in college during my time with the writing club and what was going on with the social group I was a part of. I felt like it took months for that moment to sink in, but I'm glad that I took away from it that I should have been more assertive. I'm glad I realized this right before I turn 30.
I started my twentieth decade on a good stride academic-wise—getting my Associates in Liberal Arts & Sciences, then graduating magna cum laude with Bachelors in English. I'm still employed with the same people eleven years, but I'm also still living with the family.
All things considered, I'm grateful. I feel like I could have done much better, though.
I feel like if I actually left the writing club the moment I wanted to that I would've been more motivated to find work in my field. This blog would be more well-maintained, at least between 2012 and 2014—I used to blog under a different Blogspot URL, titled the Dirty Fishtank, where I mentioned that I would be blogging about my experience going for my BA. I probably would be finding places to submit articles, and would be less afraid of getting outside my comfort zone.
At the same time though, I don't think I would have ever re-discovered my love of being a geek and of humor in general. As in, the things that inspired me to write in the first place. That's the short of it.
What I may do after tomorrow is try to do a sort of daily journal-esque posts a la Dave Winer over at Scripting News. More or less to get back into the thick of things and so I'm not as focused on trying to be too formal. As long as I don't let writing get rusty, I feel like there's still a chance I can put my talents, and my degree, to use somewhere.
Here's to ten more years, and many more!
*If you're interested in listening to the specific bit, listen to it for around 30 minutes. Otherwise, other podcasts are available.
