Hey person hey,
So it's been awhile. I bet you thought that I was giving up on this website. I accidentally took the
summer off. How does one accidentally do that? Well, you take one week off, then another, then another,
then you realize the summer is almost over so you might as well do an update in the fall. And then the
fall comes and you think, maybe I should start this up again. In the US, the summer is unofficially from
Memorial Day (end of May) to Labor Day (beginning of September). I did update in June but stopped during
July and August. A lot has happened in those months so let me get you up to speed.
I am officially a New York City resident. I moved into my apartment in Midtown East on July 1. It's a
little one bedroom that I love. I had to buy furniture for the first time in my life. I still don't
understand how furniture is so expensive but it's all done now. Now I'm working on decorating. I got a
few pieces of art and a rug. I just bought a fancy mirror and a faux sheepskin runner for next to my bed.
It's a long, expensive process but it'll be worth it once it's all done. This is also the first time I've
decorated an apartment. The last time I started decorating, I had to leave so this has been a weirdly
emotional process which showed me that I was still processing having to leave London.
I've made three new friends. One I met through a mutual friend from college and the other two are my
married neighbors. They're all so wonderful and I'm glad to have met them. I'd love a few more
friends but I'm working on that.
I finished my Italian B1 course. I had originally planned on doing B2 as well this year but I just am not
in the mood to do it. I think I'll save it for next year. I think I need a class that requires in person
this time. A2 was great because I was unemployed so I was able to make it to all of the class video calls
but now that I'm working, I can't go as they're during the workday. As for Japanese, I haven't done any
Japanese this summer. All
I've done is rewrite my notes from my notebook into my new iPad. I plan on starting it back up soon and
then trying to join in person classes at the Japanese Society near my apartment.
I have gotten really into climbing. I mentioned going climbing back in June and now I do it two or three
times a week. I bought my own shoes, harness, and chalk bag. It's hard. It's hard athletically and
mentally. I like that you have to plan out your climb but you need the strength and endurance to make the
climb possible. Once a week, I climb with the friend who re-introduced me to climbing. When we go, it's
often for two or three hours. The other times I go, I use this thing call an auto-belay which lowers you
to the ground slowly but means you can't make a mistake or else you'll have to start all over again. I'm
getting a lot stronger and am hoping to be able to get up to a 5.10a (the difficulty starts at 5.5) by
the end of the year. If I work hard, I might even be able to do a pullup too.
But now what you're here for, my programming skills. I finished my alien game. It was a long process and
it was a bit confusing to be honest. Doing the project made me realize that I never want to make a game.
I like programming but I don't think big programming projects are for me. Or at least not now. In my
next post I'm going to tell you all about the game and give you lots of pictures and hopefully even a
video. In the meantime, I'll be starting something new! In my last post, I talked about some free data
analytics courses I was taking. I've stopped doing them. Why? Because I decided to do a paid Data Analytics
course. Was it expensive? Yes. Will it be worth it? I hope so. So here are the details.
- Takes 6-8 months to complete. Gives me time to see if I still enjoy this sort of work.
- They teach you how to do data analytics using Python, which is so far my favorite language.
- Extremely flexible. I don't have to show up at a specific time for classes which is wonderful. Lots of other paid courses require you to go to live online lectures and if you miss too many, GOODBYE.
- You have a mentor who is an industry expert. You can schedule one-on-one calls (my first is on Wednesday) and they provide video feedback at the end of every Achievement (big pieces of work).
- You have a tutor who is a course expert. They provide support for exercise content and tasks and provide written feedback upon completion of each task (smaller pieces of work)
- You have student advisors if you have questions about the overall timeline, billing, issues with your tutor or mentor, or general help.
- They have a money back guarantee. As long as follow the rules (pretty simple ones), I'll get my money back if I don't find a job within 6 months of completing the course.
It starts September 13. Technically, today since it's past midnight but I'm not going to start until
the evening. Wish me luck. I'll keep you guys in the loop of my courses and my life.
Till next time,
Cope.