A school year is winding down. The snow is getting slushy. The muddy days of spring await. It’s time to recharge, finish some projects, start some new ones, and find ways to improve upon some latent hobbies. So what have I been up to? As Whitman once wrote, “I contain multitudes”.

Visual Media:

Continuing on from my recent full re-watch of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and now moving on to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Of course this is accompanied with the audio podcast Mission Log. About one episode a week, for the next 3 years. Next Gen was my Star Trek growing up, DS9 was only casually watched due to the rigors of college life. So I am excited to rediscover this series. Additionally, I am in the middle of a re-watch of Northern Exposure, one of my guilty pleasures.

Another project I am slowly progressing with is attempting to watch all of Sight and Sound’s 20 Greatest Films of All Time – The Director’s List. Of these films, I surprisingly have only seen one on the list, 2001: A Space Odyssey. So I’ve been whittling away at some of the foreign films that I should have watched long ago. I started a few weeks ago with Tokyo Story, moved on to the French film Breathless, and most recently was entranced by Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander. I tried unsuccessfully to sit down for Seven Samurai but could only muster about an hour of that epic.

Technology:

Over the past several months I have been forcing my way through Beginning Programming with C for Dummies. It’s slow going, and I am only maybe halfway through the exercises. But it seemed like a necessary step. Even if I only retain a little of the programming skills, I think knowing some C as a foundation language is vital to understanding Linux, as well as most other programming languages.

Eventually, hopefully with not much more procrastination, I will begin training myself for the LPIC-2, hopefully taking the test sometime next spring. Not entirely optimistic of my chances, as the leap from LPIC-1 to level 2 is pretty great, even for someone who might work in the tech world. For a Linux hobbyist like me, it might be beyond my skill set. But these certifications are really just for me, just a way to challenge myself – so there is no fault in trying.

Health and Fitness:

This past winter I combined my need for daily aerobic fitness with my obsession with snowshoeing. So aside from a few weeks when the snow slowly started to accumulate in mid December, I’ve been able to continue my afternoon, evening walks up nearby Asahiyama, albeit with snowshoes on. I’ve managed get in a quick snowshoe at least twice a week after school, and once on the weekend. I supplement any non-snowshoeing days with 1,600 jumping jacks. Add to this my daily Perfect Pushup regimen and I pretty much have found my daily balance necessary to keep the pounds off, no easy task in the dark days of winter.

Books:

I’ve been kinda on a self help binge. Everything from minimalism to anxiety control. Some has been helpful. Some have been rather tedious (Tim Ferris anyone?). Eventually I plan on diving back into Finnegans Wake. Maybe St. Patrick’s Day could serve as an impetus to that linguistic boondoggle.

With spring break ahead of me, it’s time to get to it!