Creating another platform

 Hello guys! To better equip my work, I have decided to slowly move my content  to Tumblr. 

Despite in favor of everything Blogger can provide, I believe with my line of work, a more robust platform for visualization is needed.

I have dabbled using Tumblr in the past and it is an awesome content sharing platform especially for visual artists and avid rebloggers who can't stop the re-tweeting mechanism. But back then, I did not need a one-page intricacies to manage. Lately, it has come to that. 

I won't be abandoning this blog ever. So, if you're a follower, please be rest assured that I will still keep updating my current work here. But if you're interested in looking into responsive work I've developed, please access the link below that will redirect you to my Tumblr page. 

https://azaleakamellia.tumblr.com

See you guys there!

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The Plan

The year 2020 started out with a bang so hard that I was surprised by the end of January, I wondered if a year had just passed by. 

Who would've known that I'll be working from home and be so insistent on working from home if I can help it than being in the office. To be honest, I do find myself more productive and fulfilled when I work from home despite having to take care of two precocious kids; my nephew and niece. 

Did they drive me crazy? Yes. 

Is my job done by the end of the day? Never.

But did you manage to finish whatever you need to do? Yes. 

The thing is, your tasks at work will never ever finish or be done with. There's always something new cropping up if your own paranoid mind isn't already brewing a set of its own trouble. I am constantly digging my own grave by making suggestions. But I can't stand the constant thought of having them just in my head and not blurt them out. 

What kind of trouble am I up to these days?

Nothing much. But I do have a big thing to add to my list of things to do:

Retire when I reach 40

It is a little weird when I think about it. What does it actually mean to retire at 40? Why do I want to be rid of working by 40 when 40 is actually an age people started to actually be in their strongest position at any given organization they are apart of? 

The thing is, I want to be free as soon as I can. 

I want to be self-sustained. A person of my own. That number 40 is actually my dateline to actually be so intellectually fulfilled that I can sustain my own skills enough to be doing alot more than I am doing right now. I want to be to create more things that could benefit others instead of myself. I want to be able to earn enough money to pay the bills, buy the things I like and maintain a peace of mind long enough for me to keep on learning new things. 

Do I want a house of my own? Not really. 

Do I want my own car? I have one I'm glad to be done with mortgage soon. 

Aren't you a bum right now?

Yes. I believe I am. I like this peaceful life I have, working at my own time and pursuing to learn what I've never had the chance of learning before.  

I may change my mind along the years coming to 40, but for now...this is the speed I like going. 

Not too fast and not too slow. 

I just want a peace of mind...

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Coding and running

Coding is one of the things I have aspired to do since like...forever! But finding a resource in-sync with my comprehension, schedule and able to retain my interest long enough is a challenge. I have the attention span of a gnat so, I jumped everywhere! If I am not actively engaged with the learning, I just can't do it. And I know...we have DataCamp, Udemy, Khan Academy and even Kaggle...but I either can't keep up, too poor to pay for the full course or it couldn't sync with me enough. I believe I can say that most of the exercise doesn't 'vibe' with me.

Recently, I committed myself to my one passion; running. It's one of my favorite activities when I was back in school but the will to really run died a decade ago. I have recently picked up my running shoes and ran my little heart out despite having the speed of a running ant; aging perhaps? And I owe my hardcore will to the motivation of earning what I paid when I decided to join a 1-month long virtual run of 65km. It is called the 'Pave Your Path' virtual run organized by Running Station. Nailed it 2 days ago after 13 sessions of 5km - yes, you can accumulate the distance from multiple runs. It made me realize that...it's not that bad. The 'near-death' experience while running kinda turned me into a daredevil these days when it comes to undertaking some things I'd whine about doing a few months back.

"If I can go through dying every single evening for 5km long run...I can handle this,"

My thoughts exactly every time I feel so reluctant to finish some tasks I believe I could hold off for some time.

Naturally, I plan my work rigorously and despite the flexibility of my schedule and my detailed plans, I still have a hard time trying to nail the last coffin to my projects. Usually, it's due to my brain's exhaustion from overthinking or I am just truly tired physically. Which is a weird situation given I do not farm for a living. Even so, I was lethargic all the time.

But when I started running a month ago, things kind of fall into places for me. Maybe...just maybe...I've become more alert than I used to. I still have my ignorance of things that I believe do not concern my immediate attention but I seem to be able to network my thoughts faster than I used to.

It might be just me, feeling like a new person due to my sheer willpower to not burn my RM60 paid for the virtual run, but it did feel like there was a change.

For that, I managed to confirm what I have suspected all along - I am one of those people who love drills. I like things to be drilled into my head until I by-heart it into efficiency and then focus on polishing the effectiveness.

Thus...for coding, I committed myself to freeCodeCamp. By hook or by crook, I'll be coding by first quarter next year or someone's head is gonna roll!


It's an interactive learning experience simple enough for me to start, straightforward enough to not make me waste my time searching for answers and it's free. God bless Quincy Larson.


Going back to the program outlined in freeCodeCamp, I find it fascinating that they start off with HTML. I have no arguments there. My impatience made me learn my lesson - you run too fast, you're going to burn out painfully and drop dead before you halfway through. HTML is a very gentle introduction to coding for newbies since it's like LEGO building blocks where you arrange blocks and match two to create something. I didn't have to go crazy with frustration is I don't 'get' it. Yes, we would all want some Python lovin' and I think alot of coders I came to know have raved about how simple it is to learn. But I think, it is an opinion shared by 'experienced' coders who wished Python was there when they first started coding. Someone once told me, what you think is the best based on others' experiences may not be the best for you...and I agree with this. After alot of deliberations and patience at my end, starting over again this time feels, unlike the dreaded looming doom I've always had back then.


Are you into coding? What do you code and what's you're language preference? Where did you learn coding? Feel free to share with me!

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