September 2020 updates
“Do you remember? Your 26th year of September?”
What a summer it has been. If I could summarize the past 2 months, it would be: working from home, finishing up my summer courses, meeting new virtual friends, rekindling old friendships, encouraging people close to me to follow their dreams, and turning 26 years old.
Most shockingly, I recently took the plunge and finally got surgery done on my knees (!), to avoid future pain. Those pain meds are not fun, but I’m glad to be in the clear and in recovery, awaiting surgery on the second knee in December. So far, my 20’s has been about setting my future self up for success in all realms, wether it be in my career, finances, relationship, mind, or physical health.
The quarantine/ social distancing / pandemic of 2020 has brought a lot of pain and suffering, but it has also been a very introspective time. I was able to focus my energy on learning new things, like the piano, and brushing up old hobbies, like drawing and guitar. I took classes, slept a lot, got to know my partner better, and re-evaluated how I’m planning my life.
While I’m not as jacked right now as I initially hoped at the beginning of quarantine, I’m happy to be doing these things. It’s important to chip away at the things you want.
I did enjoy my UX overview class. The framework given was super helpful when creating the AI beauty app earlier in the summer (Beaut). We collected some great user insight to create a product more in line with user needs, and I’m confident in the solutions and design decisions we came up with. The product owner decided to focus on their original idea of creating an AR-focused makeup app instead, but at least I have a neat portfolio piece.
The XR class was ok. I mostly wanted to learn how to make UI in unity for AR/VR apps, but the class was more focused on learning how to make an app that places an object in our room. The coding aspect really bamboozled me. I think it wasn't worth the money, since I mostly ended up teaching myself through online tutorials on the unity website. Side note, I loved building John Lemon’s Haunted Jaunt!
I started reading Hooked by Nir Eyal, to get some insight into addictive tech. Incredibly insightful! I also ended up feeling personally attacked, since I’ve at time had to pull myself away forcefully from social media addictions. I recommend The Social Dilemma, a Netflix documentary that compliments Hooked quite nicely. I’ve also been chugging away at the Witcher book series this year, and picked up Sadhguru’s Inner Engineering, since I want to understand how to bring about higher states of consciousness within myself through exercise and breathing.
Since I’ll be healing and doing physical therapy for the time being, I’ll be taking a break from online classes this term. Just low effort activities for now, to keep the brain busy and my spirits up, and to not lose momentum in my career. I signed up for a cool Latinx in Tech visual conference in October! Looking forward to that.
Until next time,
CQ