2018 So Far

RANDOM RANDOM

This year so far has been tough.

I thought I would have read around 10 books by now but I'm barely half that mark. Most of the books are mostly fiction, but at least I've got some variety this time. The books I've completed so far are:

Some books I've started reading but yet to complete are:

I haven't blogged as much as I thought I would this year. Basically the idea was to blog on what I was doing so that it acts a means of documentation for my future self. I find it easier to read my own words especially when its from a concept I had forgotten about. The good thing is I have a lot of new things I've learned, so I really need to pull up my pants. Some topics I've really got into include:

For the comic site, I just realized my art isn't that good. I think this has to do with self-bias, where immediately after drawing something, I looked at it and saw that it was good. But months later (when the feeling of achievement has waned), I look at them objectively and I'm shocked that I found them good. I've been looking at various videos and trying to practice. This is something I intend to become better at.

I'm also in my second semester for masters in Mechatronics Engineering. The course work is pretty interesting but difficult. The killer feature though is the research work, more specifically the research proposal. This becomes more impossible with every passing day especially finding a viable gap. I had some things I really wanted to get into, so I started digging in and reading papers. I ended up (still do) frustrated and angry at myself because I mostly couldn't understand these papers. And when I finally get a paper I somehow understand, I can't find any gap to fill. This has been going on for the past three months and its maddenning. I've thought that there must be a better way to do this, but this is the process my institution takes. I get my own gap, and write a proposal around it (with barely any feedback or help). So right now I'm just shooting in the dark and hoping something comes up.

For personal projects, Mradi is coming up nicely. Development has slowed down though in recent months. Hopefully I will manage to finish this product soon. I also started working on some financial tool called Staafu. It should basically help one plan for retirement by maximizing investments and reducing risks.