Bye 2014 & Things I thankful for…
Each year, I got in touch with new people, materials, and abstract subjects. This is the recap of things kept me going on until this far.
People
Firstly, my family and my parents…who supported me for all the agreements and disagreements. And existing and new friends who helping me out and guiding me for chaotic, awkward and stupid situations of mine. I am not the best social communicator, but I will try to connect to expand my network.
This is a tough year for me. My dad passes away at the end of last year and family is in mourning stage, especially my mom. Working and studying at the same time is also tough in terms of time management, insanity, and pressure. However, these people are kind and helping me to survive this long year.
Hardware
Thanks my 2-year-old Asus Notebook for standing strong with me. It’s no fancy piece of machine but powerful and going on whenever I want. I will thank you by upgrading a new RAM and clean your surface regularly. I cleaned your ventilation system last month and so, I believe you can breathe more easily now. My Samsung i9100 is also one unbelievable machine. Like a soldier in a war, it still keep going with scars and injuries. CM12 lollipop ROM is running and also a new battery is installed. I believe you will also feel happy with new upgrades. My 3-year-old Kindle Fire might be lonely because I kinda give her a retirement. I am sorry for people who are not comfortable to see me using old gadgets.
The only thing I bought this year is a new Bluetooth headphone from Rapoo. It caught in the rain one time but my CPR skill rescues her from death. Running with this headphone is like shitting in a toilet while enjoying a music concert. After running with it for several times, the sweating smell stinks and I have to clean it regularly. Also, my latest earbud’s sound quality is amazing. For 10$, it is a worth to buy. Chinese guys are good at stealing technology.
Software
Most of the applications and softwares make your life more complicated. Believe me! I am Technology Evangelist but technicians are trying every ideas to make it happen. They don’t give a sh@$ about the users. Software Developers are arrogant and they just want to show I can make this S&*^s and that S#@%s.
So, Is there any apps that help me to make my life easier?
Short answer is Yes….
Long answer is
The softwares that help my life better in terms of making me motivate, productive, and ease which are
VOIP & Messenger apps
News aggregators
Fitness tracking apps
Maps
Cloud Storage Services
Online Word Processors
Music Streaming Services
Except these apps, the rest categories are not that much useful for me.
social apps make me bloated.
games make me cheap.
shopping apps make me craving for stuffs.
Camera apps make me look things through lens instead of eyes.
Lifestyle apps are not necessary. More like “F*&^ your life” apps.
Productivity apps are also not productive. It makes you less productive. Just grab a notebook, pen and commitment. (I wrote a blog about this before.)
Online
People did shameful and stupid things online like fighting at nonsense comment section, trolling other people, stealing things and watching pornography. I will skip bad parts and highlight good things I did online.
I tweet meaningful stuffs.
I organize playlists at Gibbon for fellow learners.
I contribute at Quora for thoughtful opinions and ask serious questions.
I make a blog to share debris and stuffs from my brain.
I talked with random people from Freenode IRC channels about various stuffs.Mostly at World Cup ‘14
I learned several subjects through online learning platforms.
I create some music playlists at 8tracks.
Academica & Learning
This year, I started self-learning Digital forensic for my thesis. The reason I decided to work on DF area is because it’s an interdisciplinary field between forensic science and computer science. A contribution to this area can help from e-crimes and e-discovery process. To catch bad guys in this IT world. I am also involving in a bioinformatics research project and in the near future, I can contribute to forensic plus bioinformatics project. I am terrible at biology, but my role is dealing with raw DNA datasets to clean up and analyze it for assembly process. I am planning to learn more about bioinformatics, data science and Statistics.
For side projects, I am working for small to mid-sized projects by flying solo or with a little help from my friends. I will try to keep up good work and make my brain active.
Finally….
Fight For Science
Books
Some people read more books when they got older. But, I read more books like 5 years ago. I read for souls. I read to think. I read for wisdom. I read for knowledge. Thisera, we have several media channels to absorb information. paper media is fading away because it is difficult to access and expensive. Fewer people are reading newspaper and bookstores turn into a museum of printed media, rather than the source of knowledge. Even in university, students use tablets and laptops to learn. Should I call it paperless-learning system? I don’t know…
At the start of this year, I am forcing myself to read actual books. Books with chapter 1,2,3… Not just articles and blog posts from internet. I uploaded epub files to Google playbook platform to read it from my tablet and laptop. Still, it doesn’t feel like actual paper books which I can’t afford to buy at this moment. Here are some of the books which I started to read this year;(on progress & finished and non-technical books)
iWoz
I’ll Go Home Then, It’s Warm and Has Chairs. The Unpublished Emails.
Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel
Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd
The Math Book
Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls
Googled: The End of the World As We Know It
Me Talk Pretty One Day
1Q84
Music
I listen to music all the time literally. I listen while working, walking, jogging, chilling and crying. I listen through streaming services, especially 8traksa & spotify, and local storage. At 2014, the following artists are the ones I am thankful for making beautiful music;
Alt-J
Bleachers
Childish Gambino
A Great Big World
Dirty South
Lana Del Rey
Chance The Rapper
Cloud Nothing
Ed Sheeran
The 1975
The Antlers
Grimes
Beach House
God Speed You! Black Emperor
M83
The National
Frank Ocean
The list goes on….
Films
Some good TV series got me exciting this year. For movies, it’s not that much except LEGO Movie…
Good TV Series in case you miss it
Black Mirror (Technology, Sci-fi)
Silicon Valley (Technology)
Halt and Catch Fire (Technology)
COSMOS: A Spacetime Odessey (Science)
True Detective (Drama)
Utopia (Drama, Sci-fi)
Outroduction
People make “New Year Resolutions”. It’s good for some people, but it doesn’t mean you have to do it too. I don’t like forcing myself to do things. It’s more comfortable and easier for me to work things because of my conscious mind and my willingness. So, I reflects my previous year and will enjoy my next year with “flexible planning” and “flexible commitment”. Cheers!