March 2025
Episode 3 of 2025 has just ended, and I'd like to recap what's happening on various fronts.
Academic Front
Colleges are out and I am a little sad. Spring break is upon me and it doesn't feel like I've been doing much at home. Senioritis has also now piled up more (it fluctuates) but I'm really beginning to feel tired -- both mentally and physically (I sleep in some classes) -- about going to school and it's a little sad. I feel like I don't have any more outbursts of energy anymore; like I'll just be receding into the summer.
On some brighter news, my grades look fine, my friends are doing well, and I actually saw a really good friend who came back from Wisconsin-Madison and he seems to be doing well on the internship grind.
Other Activities
Trumpet practicing feels like it's at an all-time-low but that might just be expected; I don't see too much in playing, and I've been actually slightly sick here and there (notably after OCR).
At robotics, our robot competed in two more competitions, SFR (San Francisco Regional) and CCR (Contra Costa Regional) where I mainly served as the drive coach and kind of like a mentor. It's good that there were no code issues, it's really cool that we were actually in picking position both times (A3 captain and A7 captain), and it's slightly sad that we didn't qualify for Worlds. I'm sure next year, if things hold we'll make DCMP (District Championships) and that'll be fun but for now robotics has wrapped itself up for a bit and all that remains is for me to write internal documentation and to plan my retirement (or death).
Misc
Other than that, I alluded to in the previous monthly recap that my eagle project would be taking place. That has most definitely happened and I'll hopefully be an eagle scout soon.
Our school's jazz ensemble participated in two more concerts; the Santa Cruz Jazz Festival (all superiors!) and a Jazz CMEA. We did super well in both and I'm happy for everyone and the band.
I was invited to and saw John Green on the tour of his new book, Everything Is Tuberculosis. Unfortunately, reading isn't going super well for me, but John Green is an amazing dude who really fascinates me in the way he talks and I think I'll get around to his book soon.
Also finished a few books I've been reading that I have checked out in my house currently. We'll see when that list finally takes itself down.
Seasonal Themes
My seasonal theme for Jan-Mar was to 'flow', both in the sense of just going with the flow and, well, see what you get when it's sdrawkcab. For April to June, my theme will simply be code -- a season of coding -- where I'll hopefully pick up vim/vi, write some more code (on my own this time -- not for robotics) and generally just dive more into the terminal. That might be my cure for senioritis.
Now that we're 25+% of the way through 2025, maybe evaluate how you've been doing. How are those new year resolutions? (I broke both of mine already) How is the year shaping up to be?