Before launching into the new year, I try to reflect on the past one. For me, 2018 was a year of transition. I graduated, I got a job, and I started living on my own.

January

I started in Illinois, but I flew to California immediately to finish the last pieces of my Computer Science degree.

Back at school, I starting learning a technology called Angular. This paid off because:

• I programmed my senior project using Angular.
• I accepted a job offer at an Angular shop, back in Illinois.

February

Having employment lined up, I focused on my schoolwork. Of course, I also went on lots of hikes.

March

I finished my senior project, I earned my degree, and I hiked up a hill to take this picture of the campus.

The graduation ceremony wasn’t until summer, so I ran in a local 10K as a symbolic victory lap.

April

Back in Illinois

• I attended the U of I Web con. This year, I’m going to be one of the speakers!
• I started my new job!
• I ran in the Illinois 10K. I’m going to do this again in 2019.

I barely had time to catch my breath before…

May

I flew back to California for a big family reunion!

photo by Laurie Kantor Finn <- one of my distant cousins

There were relatives from this side of family who hadn’t seen me since I was eight years old. It was a fun weekend.

June

Graduation Ceremony

I made one more trip to California this year, to attend my graduation ceremony.

A bittersweet moment indeed, because it felt like closing a chapter of my life.

July

Two of my best friends, Ray and Maria, married each other! I was asked to provide music along my brothers – what a treat to be part of that day.

August

My Autumn months were about getting into the Midwest mindset. I participated in lots of local events.

• A weekend of board games at Gen Con, in Indianapolis.
• Giving speeches at a local Toastmasters club.
• Performing music at the Sweet Corn Festival. This was especially fun because I’ve been going to this event since I was a kid.

September

I moved out of my parents’ house to a place in Champaign, closer to where I work.

Then, I had my 10 year high school reunion.

“I can’t believe it’s been 10 years!”

I finished up the month with a visit to Chicago, and attended a local arts festival. The festival had a hackathon portion and my team got third place. We made a website about the local election.

Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

Tesla Coil Performance in Urbana

October

This was a super busy month for me, in the best of ways.

• Visited Chicago again and went to the Museum of Modern Art
• Got my SCUBA certification
• Went to lot of Halloween parties

November

My brothers and I play 1930’s style jazz music, in a band we call the Hot Club of Urbana.

We played a mini-concert for our relatives who visited during Thanksgiving.

We also had two paid gigs this month. Playing music so often might be the best perk of living in the same town as my family.

The Iron Post

Urbana Free Library

December

To top off a great year, my family vacationed in Costa Rica for Christmas.

Looking Back on 2018

Looking at my previous roundup post from last year, I hit these goals:

• Graduating
• Running a 10k – I ran two!
• Contributing to an open souce project – I fixed a bug.
• Playing more violin – accomplished with the help of my brothers

The goals I failed were:

• Blogging often – I ended the year with only 5 new posts
• Buying a new desk to help with my back pain
• Replacing my bedtime phone habit with books
• Reading 20 books – I read 14

Looking Forward to 2019

My resolution is to create a website for my band. It sounds fun to combine my music and programming into something new and personal.

I’m also setting these goals for myself:

• Run a 10K in under an hour
• Read 15 books
• Redesign this blog. It’s still using a default theme.
• Record music and post it online. I perform plenty, but recording is a different skill.
• Get an adjustable standing desk for work
• Sleep more than 7 hours a day on average. My alarm app tells me I’m only getting 6.5 hours
• Contribute more open source code

Final Thoughts

2018 had me completing big life milestones left and right. I don’t expect this next year to feel as groundbreaking, nor do I need it to be either.

I plan to be in the Champaign-Urbana area for all of 2019. I’d like at least a year without feeling like I have each foot in a different state.

I want 2019 to be about consistency. I’m in a good spot, so a nice consistent year would let me finish my 20’s with a lot to be grateful for.

Happy New Years dear readers! Good luck in all your 2019 endeavors.

Today is January 1st and this blog turns 1 year old today. My resolution from last year was to blog weekly. I didn’t quite make my goal, but that’s all the more reason to write a yearly roundup! I was inspired by my friend Nat who does a similar style article every year. Kind of like sending out Christmas cards.

January

My family and I flew out to California to visit my grandparents, but also to finish my Cal Poly paperwork for my return. Then I celebrated my birthday with friends Emma and Sven who were traveling down the coast.

This month a close friend passed away unexpectedly. I tried to pour my focus into my class at the University of Illinois.

February

Mainly I was busy with group projects for my class, Operating Systems. My team members were entrenched in the student mindset, which I happily fed off of. We’d meet at Merry Ann’s diner and code into the night.

March

I visited Chicago twice, at the beginning and end of the month. First was visiting my cousin Sophia who goes to the University of Chicago. The second time was to visit my friend Tyler, who teaches high school in the area. We had a pretty mild winter, no snow to be seen at this point. Also, my Operating Systems midterm went well.

April

At first, I couldn’t remember much from April other than doing my taxes (and playing the new Zelda). But looking through my pictures I can tell the weather was getting warmer. I went on some walks and my friends were having cookouts. In Illinois, people jump at the first signs of Spring to spend time outdoors.

May

I finished my classes. To celebrate, I went up to Chicago again, this time for Anime Central. I’d never been to an anime convention before, I met lots of cool folks, saw some cool costumes.

June

The local farmers market started so my brothers and I busked on the weekends. It gets hot playing up a storm, so I was grateful for the powerful AC at my mall job afterwards. I’d get a cold brewed coffee from the market, and then lead game demos outside the store. What a great combo and a great memory.

July

I went to Chicago again, this time for Pokemon Go Fest. The actual event had technical issues, but I still got to wander around downtown with my family and friends.

Near the end of the month I visited a friend in Atlanta for the first time. I hiked up a hill with my violin and played music with a hula dancer by chance.

August

Playing at the farmer’s market got us a gig at a goat farm!

My family also continued our tradition of going to Gen Con, a board game convention in Indianapolis. There we saw a They Might Be Giants concert,. and the timing was right for driving south to the solar eclipse afterwards. Unfortunately, a cloud covered up the sun at the exact wrong time.

September

I drove from Illinois to California because it was time for classes at Cal Poly, the final step in getting my degree. I was anxious, as technically I was crashing one of the classes. But things went smoothly, I made it to San Luis Obispo on a rainy day, and started school a week later.

SLO life is good and I feel pretty much right at home here.

October

Right before the month began, my Dad flew out to visit, and near the end of the month my Mom flew out for a short visit as well. If there’s any reason I’m doing well it’s all the support I get. My main class was about ethics in software, and I ended up with several papers that will easily become future blog posts.

November

Even with my classes in the bag, I found it difficult not to stress over the final projects. I flew home briefly for Thanksgiving, which gave a nice reprise from school. The quarter ended with A’s and I only have my senior project left to earn my degree. I’m feeling pretty proud!

December

December was a whirlwind. First, a flight back to Illinois through Chicago where I saw some friends at a convention. Afterwards, down to Urbana to visit more. Finally, I traveled to Hawaii with my grandparents and family to celebrate Christmas.

Looking Back on 2017

Wow. I mean, I moved further along my degree this year than the previous four. Working at a board game store was overall great and I think I’m a better salesman than before. Driving cross country made me realize I’m older. Last time I drove that far I could go longer without the same soreness and fatigue. In general I sit too often, but otherwise I did a pretty good job keeping active physically and mentally in 2017.

Books

I listened to most of my books through an Audible subscription. Mainly self-help style books and podcasts that make for easy listening in the car. War of Art, which is about procrastination, was my favorite and I listened to it twice. The book that engrossed me the most was a dystopian sci-fi series, Red Rising, and I am betting it will end up being made into a movie.

For next year, I think I can finish at least 20 books. Especially if I start using my Kindle more.

Music

Last.fm says I only listened to 1,740 songs, which seems incredibly low. I must have been only tracking MP3s played on my phone. But either way, the top 3 albums reported were ones I enjoyed a lot. Spirit Phone is silly but still hits me hard, Sufjan Stevens is required listening for anyone who enjoys the Midwest, and Ghosting’s album samples all the Miyazaki films’ soundtracks.

I also saw some live music, most notably Andrew Bird (who makes me really want to learn to sing), Cashmere Cat, and They Might Be Giants.

Looking Forward to 2018

I’m definitely getting my degree in March, and I’m curious to see where that degree will take me. I’d love to stay in SLO. Regardless, I’m getting my software development career moving again.

My official New Year’s Resolution is to write more articles here. I have gotten a lot better at writing in the past year, but I’m still not satisfied with how I approach this strange art form. I’m going to publish 2 more articles this month, and will reevaluate my frequency on Jan 31st.

Some other mini goals I have:

• Music. People enjoy my violin so much, I ought to honor that and practice more. I could also practice voice seriously, for the sake of those who live around me.
• Running. I’m actually pretty good at endurance running, and I learned about a 10k run this Spring in SLO. Might be a great way to celebrate graduating.
• Stretching. This quarter I spent so much time coding in my chair that my neck and back suffered. Gotta do more stretches and also buy a new chair/desk this year.
• Using my phone less. I want to replace my bedtime phone habit with book reading.
• Open Source contributing. I keep seeing articles about doing this, just choose a project and run with it.

Final Thoughts

Lots of things to accomplish, and it’s tricky to think about the large scope of it all. I’ll try to take things one day at a time. Tonight is a supermoon, and that’s gotta be a good omen. My Dad took a picture of it rising over a snowy field, which strikes me as the correct way to sign off this post and start 2018. Thanks for reading.