Started BSCS; Rambles about that and other fun life stuff
The goblin began its bachelor's program... among other daily promises.
For those who don’t want to read this entire thing, here is an overview of what happened: left my job, tried studying for AWS CCP but got sick for a week, with other symptoms that lingered for about another week (mainly a stuffy nose), and had to prep for my first term at WGU. I tacked on two daily habits to achieve as well: read 20 minutes a day and write a 500+ word document of something relating to my novel writing. Also planning to draw all 21 Maestros’ headshots.
October I left my job and began studying more for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam, but around the third full week of October, I was sick; nothing super unbearable after the first three days, which was mainly categorized by pain all around the body. It was honestly not that bad, considering just one Advil a day relieved me from it. Slept for most of the day and drank plenty of water and orange juice and the pain disappeared. The next few days would have me annoyed by an especially stuffy nose. It went away, but I still had some remnant of it.
But, I could function. That was my main goal.
I started studying for the CCP exam again but I believe the anxiety of starting the new term crept up on me, so I just took that week to slow down and relax. I didn’t really celebrate my birthday, on my birthday, since I was sick, but I had takeout from a restaurant I liked. I celebrated the Sunday after with former coworkers at a hotpot place, along with another coworker who had their birthday then.
I started to keep a goal of reading 20 minutes a day while I was sick too. Currently using the Books app on iOS since it has a timer that runs while in app; my first book was Atomic Habits by James Clear which I found an ePub online for. I got a copy of Daniel DiPiazza’s True Artifact after waiting for it to be released (I believe it was released on October 25). It is a free book, not too long either. I haven’t started it yet though.
Off of Humble Bundle I got a large pack of eBooks, part of MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series. It’s titled “Essential Knowledge, Computer and Tech, by MIT Press” (link here: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/essential-knowledge-computers-and-tech-mit-press-books). It’s a bundle of 24 books, as low as $18 for the collection. I’m currently reading Computational Thinking by Denning and Tedre for my daily reading habit. After that, I’ll probably read Computing, in the collection.
I started the BSCS program at WGU on November 1; so far, I haven’t finished any course yet (it’s only the third day of November as of writing this). I’ve calculated the maximum time I could spend on a course if I wanted to do all 21 within one term; it comes out to approximately eight days per class. I plan to take the objective assessment for Intro to IT (the first class for this term) at latest, next week; I could probably take it over the weekend, to be fair. I just need ensure that I can set up my area and camera correctly, and then go review the material/study.
However, I think the most exciting development so far has been pushing myself to make the 500+ word blurbs for Aistrex worldbuilding. Some of the topics so far have been about ideas already mentioned in the stories (and then expanded upon in these blurbs), and some are completely new. I’ve been keeping them in the Obsidian notetaking program since the interface is straightforward and I can format things in markdown.
Currently, I have eight blurbs:
“Origin of the Jenum Bloodline”, 1268 words
“Veritate (Hanjromidaz)”, 549 words
“Heorrhasnun”, 520 words
“Mock Battle Environment”, 1621 words
“Roxanne’s Waiting”, 510 words
“IGF Duo (Roxanne and Ambriel)”, 1462 words
“Arnessa Valadyel Paeden’s Excursions”, 1131 words
“Macken’s Childhood + Growth”, 2300 words
That’s a total of 9361 words. They are a “stream of consciousness” sort of writing where I keep at it for 20 minutes to an hour. I’ve been doing one every day, and it’s more manageable than writing a whole book. But the problem is that these won’t write a book themselves, and because they’re extensions/written-down versions of ideas I’ve had for a while or tidbits already included in the novel drafts, I haven’t been branching out to ideas that are actually new. I’ve done one before on Melonia which is one of the other Maestros, and I’ve never written her in any of the novel manuscripts because outside of the main novel ideas, there’s still a lot of Maestros whose stories aren’t told in great detail. So that’s going to be another goal; truly starting on a new part of the lore map and digging deep into these characters.
These small accomplishments are helping propel my progress in other places too by giving a minimum amount that’s outside of my comfort zone. If this was work to be disseminated widely I’d probably put more effort into the quality from the get go, but truth is, just by writing a lot, reviewing, and learning day by day about good story writing skills, and just writing skills in general, I’m progressing a lot more.
For example, my writing stamina has shot up. The first two blurbs I wrote (“Roxanne’s Waiting” and “Heorrhasnun”) were the shortest so far. I didn’t think that much about them, nor did they have any “predefined path” for me to really expand upon. But by doing this, when I wrote, I’d somehow have an idea for what to write in the next blurb. That would be “Veritate (Hanjromidaz)” because Heorrhasnun and Veritate, their vessels are objects they’re stuck in. I made that association and wrote about Veritate afterwards. I’m exceeding that 500+ word goal, which I like, but I don’t plan on changing it any time soon. Some of the ideas for blurbs really are that short and sweet.
Now, onto my other small project: I’m drawing a headshot of each Maestro; just one a day like a vitamin gummy. They’re simply drawn and shaded, as to focus on trying to capture personality. Also in grayscale with one accent color. For example, the first one, Ie/Ytar, I have her winking with a broad smile, and her open eye, the iris is orange. Then Laminth, the next one, his helmet is this cold teal-ish gray color. I want to emphasize the parts that make each one unique while keeping a similar color palette for all of the drawings.
It’s also giving me a chance to draw Maestros I don’t frequently draw and push myself out of the comfort zone.
As of today, I need to draw:
Jung
Kanna
Macken
Expa
Roya
Imbele
Awakorrama
Arnessa
Roxanne
Ambriel
Pon
Tzechi
Jo
Jaxx
Ouma
Renault
Etssmoss
Melonia
and Laika
I think it’s going to be fun to see all of them drawn out. Back in 2018, I began drawing a headshot for each one, but only managed to do Ytar, Macken, Jung, and Laika. Their designs have changed a good amount so I think redoing them is better.
That’s it for now folks. I thought I’d write more for today but I didn’t. I’ll be sure to share my experiences with Intro to IT’s OA (within school policy, of course). These habits help me get a rhythm going, and goals to achieve every day.