January 2022 Brain-Dump 🧠🗑

I managed to pull it from my heart to do some laundry and I feel very proud of myself/grown-up. Adulting is simultaneously the best and worst thing that ever happened to me for a variety of reasons but this isn’t about that.

All in all, my start to 2022 was palatable. Towards the end of January; I’ve made some small but substantial steps to becoming a healthier version of myself. Even though these steps were small; some are expensive but I’ve noticed I have a need to invest in resolutions so I’m forced to chase at least some form of ROI.

For those curious; those steps included:

• Buying an air fryer (Not that expensive)
• Becoming pescatarian again (Slightly expensive over time)
• Weighing myself (Traumatic)
• Getting a gym membership
• Beginning a calorie deficit
• Buying an excessive amount of gym clothes (Expensive)

Outside of my health resolutions, I’ve also decided to commit to learning more this year; focusing especially on front-end engineering and also 3D modelling.

So far, I feel that it’s gone relatively well; I’ve gotten comfortable with Blender and I feel like I’m slowly getting less intimidated by JavaScript. Irregardless, however, I need to do more. Mainly because I’m eager to learn three.js and build a portfolio site very soon.

At the beginning of this month; I also began to briefly explore AR as can be seen below.

I plan on exploring this more soon since it’s been a lot of fun! New filter dropping Vday perhaps.

In January I also got paid for 3D work for the first time; which was nice. Here’s what I made:

A still of the animation I created

The actual animation

This was very fun to do, but recently I’ve been more engrossed in isometric rooms; as can be seen from the cover of this article.

Here’s some stills of my first isometric room:

I really enjoyed making the fish in the fishbowl as well as the rug here

The large plant was very fun

This was very fun to do and a great learning experience because of the amount of tutorials I had to explore to create various parts of the scene; in particular the rug and the plant next to the desk.

Another element of the scene I was particularly proud of was the MacBook; as can be seen in more detail below:

Outside of coding and 3D modelling, I’ve also began to read again. I’ve started reading All About Love by bell hooks and I think it’s changed my life. Here are some of my favourite excerpts.

The second quote especially resonated with me because in 2020 I had a brief, but nonetheless frightening, breast cancer scare. Surprisingly, in the face of this I was relatively optimistic and viewed having limited time as a silver lining because I would no longer have to consider long-term goals or even consequences for reckless actions. But I also felt sad because I’d have to write off finding love, and at my core, I am a lover girl.

In regards to my self-development this month, I think it’s been fairly significant, mainly because I have considerably less time for other people’s carelessness and in general I have a lot on my plate. I’m also becoming a lot more gentle with myself which is nice.

Finally, I was, unsurprisingly, very beautiful this month. Real ones know. But if you don’t, here’s evidence.

Oh, and finally, I upgraded my desk set-up with an iPad Air and a mechanical keyboard + mouse and it’s been life-changing.

Here is the link for the keyboard and mouse:

Logitech POP Wireless Mouse and Keyboard Combo - Customisable Emojis, SilentTouch, Precision/Speed…

Anyway, if you’ve read this far, I hope you have enjoyed.

Same vibes at the end of next month.

Love,

Zai 💋