The last year of my life has been a busy one. I moved to central Illinois to get a fresh start on life. Leaving the northern Illinois area - which had been my home for some time - was bittersweet, because of the many fond memories I have both on and off campus and the many good friends I had the privilege of meeting, and still keep in contact with. However, the move to central Illinois proved an important role in shaping my near future. I quickly became in a position to grow a wonderful friendship with a woman who I will be marrying this summer, and have had a lot of time to think critically on what I need to do to take some steps in my life toward being the man I want to be.
Along the way my regular reading of the Art of Manliness and listening to their podcasts have filled me with inspiration to begin taking inventory of my hobbies and interests, something I recommend everyone to do periodically. I highly recommend both the AoM website and the podcasts (they also have an app!). Keeping up with the Art of Manliness has brought attention to the fact that I'd like to look at and possibly pursue a hobby - thanks to their article The Ultimate List of Hobbies for Men: 75+ Ideas For Your Free Time. Very good stuff in the article!
So that was long-winded, many apologies! But really, I very highly recommend checking out the Art of Manliness.
I've decided that in the near future - after I've taken care of a few things in the coming months - to take up computer programming as a hobby. Ever since my first programming course in C++ I've acquired a taste for programming, or rather a reawakening. My first brush with programming came in seventh or eighth grade teaching myself HTML, and since then programming has always sort of been a side thing I turn to once in a while.
Another hobby I've recently been more involved in is being a Google Local Guide.
As I've progressed through the levels of the Local Guide, I've found a taste for rating and reviewing places I've been. And there are rewards along the way.
Ultimately my contributions give me an outlet for helping people know where to go for things like that perfect sandwich or cup of coffee, or even reviewing places like book stores and other businesses.
Well, that's sort of a digest of things and latest happenings. I'm looking forward to what the rest of 2017 has in store, and hope that so far everyone is enjoying the start of the year. As always feel free to follow me on Twitter @noherp2012.
