First Published: 2019 January 03
For nearly 2/3 of this day, I was on a bus. While bus rides are conducive for many activities, in my experience, they tend to be very harmful to writing, especially digitally.
First Published: 2019 January 1
Today I packed for a ten day trip. It’s odd how much less impactful that packing feels now that I’ve left for a semester. Weird.
First Published: 2018 December 31
As I finish this post in the early hours of the morning, 2018 is officially over. And, as of the end of this post, this blog has 125 posts, which is a surprisingly nice and round number for being completely unplanned.1 So, I thought I’d use this to look back at 2018.
2018 was a really fun year for me. Due to it being late, and my having been up for a while, I don’t remember most of it. However, looking back, five big positive events for me this year were: medaling at the Conference Swim and Dive meet, joining the Track and Field team, beginning the bagpipes, going to London,2 and finally having a trimmed beard.
Of these, I think the final will prove to be the most impactful on my life in 2019.3 Since I reflected on five big changes in 2018, I feel like I should also list five things that excite me about 2019, which are:4 learning the accordion, figuring out what I’m going to do after college, being a senior, watching my little brother’s final high school memories being made, continuing to grow at the instruments I’m already taking.
Of course, three5 of the items that were most memorable to me about 2018 as I was writing this post weren’t things that I knew would be happening at the beginning of the year.6 So, more than anything, I’m excited to find out what new and wonderful events will change my life in 2019. In the7 words of the immortal Caesar, venio, video, vivo. In English, that would be:sayI come, I see, I live. If I can’t fail to be pretentious on New Year’s Eve, then when? Anyways, best of luck to anyone reading this, and a happy end of the Christmas Season.
Today marks the end of 2018. As of the end of this post, I’ve posted 125 posts, which is a surprisingly nice and round number.8 2018 was a really fun year for me.
Looking back, some big changes include: medaling at the Conference Swim and Dive meet, joining the Track and Field team, beginning the bagpipes, going to London,9 and finally having a trimmed beard.
Of these, I think the final will prove to be the most impactful on my life in 2019. Since I reflected on five big changes in 2018, I feel like I should list five things that excite me about 2019: learning the accordion, figuring out what I’m going to do after college, being a senior, watching my little brother’s final high school memories being made, continuing to grow at the instruments I’m already taking.
Of course, three10 of the items that were most memorable to me about 2018 as I was writing this post weren’t things that I knew would be happening at the beginning of the year. So, more than anything, I’m excited to know that I don’t know what new and wonderful things will happen to me in 2019.
First Published: 2018 December 30
Luke 2:52: “He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart.”
Today’s readings, as the name of the day would suggest, all focus on family. The first reading focuses on one family, the prophet Samuel’s. We learn that he is offered as a “perpetual nazirite,” or holy one.1
The second reading explains what Paul sees as an ideal family.
Finally, the Gospel speaks of one of the only instances of the Holy Family where all is not perfect. The young Jesus goes missing after Passover, and is found at the Temple. This reading comes from Luke, and like most of Luke, I really enjoy it.
The reading tells us that children are inquisitive, and that is a good trait. It tells us that mothers should show concern for their children. It doesn’t say much about a father’s role, but the reading can’t do everything. And, like much of the dialogue in the Bible, it contains some dialogue that seems hard to picture actually happening.
1 Samuel 22↩︎
First Published: 2018 December 29
As some of you may know, I dive. And, as a result of this, I’ve learned the numbering system for diving. It’s fairly straightforward. For example, 103 means front one and a half. Each time the final number increases by one, the number of half-rotations does as well. So, 104 is front double, and so on. Now, this brings us to a topic of debate among my teammates and I. Should front 5 and one half be 111 or 1011? While in London, I heard that one of my teammates knew someone who threw the dive, so I could’ve asked what the number was. But, I forgot, and now don’t know the number. However, some research I’ve never tried to do before now suggests that the answer is 1011, which is fine, just wrong.
First Published: 2018 December 28
As some of you may know, as a way to kill time and attention, I sometimes draw celtic knotwork. Today, I tried to make a shape that included some interesting breaks. Unfortunately, I realized that the shape required more than one line. To remedy this, I tried some different patterns before asking my father.
After a quick Google search, we learned that1 the number of lines required for a knot is the greatest common divisor of the length and width of the knot. Unfortunately, that didn’t end up being incredibly useful for my piece, but it’s still cool to learn.
for a simple rectangle↩︎
First Published: 2018 December 27
For the past two weeks or so, I’ve been listening to a long audiobook. Unfortunately, other than a transatlantic flight, I’ve had very little time where my ears are free and the rest of me is not. That is, these past two weeks, either I’ve been unable to listen to something, because my ears are otherwise occupied, as in meetings and conversations, or I’ve also been able to use the rest of my body. Again, that is, I can use my hands to make music, or my eyes to read a book. Since I can’t read a book while listening to one, I couldn’t do that. Nonetheless, it was very fun.
While I still don’t love audiobooks, I understand some of the appeal. Had I still been in London, with my long commutes, I think the audiobook would have been more useful. Nonetheless, I’m mostly just glad it’s over.
First Published: 2018 December 26
Today I tried baking again. Instead of the attempts I’d made before, where I made one full-size cake, and asked for others to compare to no reference, today I made 5 small recipes and had comparisons from there. The five recipes I tested were: the original, browned butter and coffee, browned then cooled butter and coffee, just coffee, and just browned butter. I had two amazing friends who were willing to taste test for me.
Sadly, one person’s favorite1 was the other’s least favorite: browned butter and coffee That was the browned and coffeed recipe. Both found the browned, coffeeless recipe a close second, so that appears to be a good choice. However, the original was also one’s favorite and the other’s third favorite. So, I’ll probably try those two recipes on Saturday, as I have a chance to talk to the judge again.
as is often the case↩︎
First Published: 2018 December 25
Merry Christmas! Today, I had the wonderful opportunity to celebrate Christmas with family and friends. It was amazing. And, as my sleep schedule is pushing me to bed earlier and earlier, I am reminded of the quote “merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.”
First Published: 2018 December 24
Christmas Eve has always been a weird day to me. Mostly, this is because I accept that1 days start and end at sunset. That’s the reason for Vigil Masses and such. However, Eve means the evening before. So, the idea of Christmas Eve just seems weird to me. The evening before Christmas is technically the 23.
for liturgical purposes↩︎