January 2026
This January has been boring. It's been mundane. Uninteresting. Currently, there's nothing my brain can reach for that was interesting and exciting that can defines the month that ended a day ago.
But then I look at my daily logs and my calendar. And they tell a very different story about how my January went. They recount how I
- attended a hackathon and won a squishmallow there from the tetris competition (SB Hacks, 1/10)
- bought a computer (1/30)
- returned to college after a prolonged winter break (1/3)
- started going to the UCSB chess club (1/8)
- quit online chess
- quit poker
- quit (or stopped playing) online video games
- saw the return of the ISS Dragon pod (1/14)
- caught a runny nose from either allergies or some flu-variant (1/25)
- started playing the piano again (1/24)
- started doing codeforces contests again (1/18)
and much, much more (although the majority of what's not recounted here is indeed boring).
With my eye constantly set on the future, I think the present will always seem boring and mundane compared to what I could be. And as long as I don't lose sight of my accomplishments in the past, to always live in the mundane and strive for the greater is alright with me.