Over the last couple of days, I pulled down some of my books on programming languages and set out to begin some learning. For a while I have wanted to get myself to a place where I have a full grasp of at least one general purpose programming language as well as a shell programming language. Those languages that I aspire to understand had been determined years ago and have not changed since: Perl and Bash. Bash is an easy choice because I have been using the Bash shell on Linux and Macintosh for years. As for Perl, I have been drawn to it because of its regular expressions capabilities and flexibility. In fact, I bought books on Perl and as well as another on Linux that covered shell programming in detail some years ago, but I never spent enough time on any of them that I learned all of the basics of either language.
Writer’s Journal
Writing on personal thoughts, feelings, and stories.
Diminishing the role of my smartphone
Writer's JournalUnlike people in their teens or early twenties, I did not grow up with smartphones. There were no apps or YouTube. Only books, my Sony Walkman, television, and my own imagination. As a kid I spent more time on books, my imagination, or playing outside than I spent on television. Yet later in my teens, video games eventually took a larger role in how I spent my free time. Eventually, in my late teens and early twenties my first laptop computer became where I spent most of my time, and most of that time was spent reading online. Today the smartphone has largely replaced my laptop in terms of time spent on it as well as being the primary place where I read.
With this time in isolation
Writer's JournalI have been off all social media lately, only popping in a few times to briefly say something. My phone buzzes with fewer notifications now that I deleted many apps, even ones I thought I could not live without. My days feel more peaceful and my eyes turn to the space in which I live, seeing more what has meaning to me and what does not.
Maybe not openminded after all?
Writer's JournalIn the last year, I have come to see that openmindedness and tolerance for others’ opinions is nonexistent (or nearly so) among my family, both among those who are close and even more so among those who are of my extended family. The derision, condescension, and hostility is so great when taken together as a whole that I am left to question myself, to question whether I am similarly affected.
Time to decide and I’m not ready
Writer's JournalI feel like I am being shot out of a cannon. The second and final year of my college photography degree has begun, and I feel overwhelmed by the business class (Photo 200). The first year of the program focused on learning technical skills for photography, and although I knew that the second year would weigh heavily on business and learning how to be a professional photographer, I did not expect to so immediately determine what my career in photography should be.
Should you ever argue with me
Writer's JournalIf you ever have the sweet joy of arguing with me on some topic, whether in person or online, you may find that I will argue strongly against you, perhaps even aggressively. Furthermore, should I give you the impression that I think you are foolish or ignorant, just know that unless I say so explicitly (which I think seldom happens), I am just arguing against your argument. I am not saying anything about you.
New look and a few changes
Writer's JournalThis evening/early morning I updated the theme of this blog to a simpler two-color theme. I feel that the new look fits my style more than the previous one did. For one, I am happy the header image displays in a way I like versus the previous theme. Although the copyright license that I use for this website has not changed, the legal information has been put in a separate page called Legal. Another change I have made is there now is a list of categories and a tag cloud at the bottom of the page.