I've also decided not to spend so much time on trying to find a picture that identifies my post. I'm not a journalist, or an influencer, or some popular person who's thoughts and opinions are the driving force behind the decisions of many individuals. So essentially I'm going for readability and as plain text as possible.
It seems anyway nowadays that the internet is less concerned with reading blog posts as it is more concerned with 10, 15, or 30 second tick tock videos (this, of course very revealing of the declining attention span that modern internet users have.)
Further, while looking at my blog post over the really the last decade, it seems that there is a mix of life events and " hot takes" , which of course are purely my personal opinion or honest thought on whatever it is I am giving a hot take on. The topics discussed on this blog essentially detail much of topics of interest that I have and I see no reason for that to change.
Sometimes, I have not had the energy, time, or inspiration to write. All of this is okay and I also understand that this probably contributes to the fact that no one really reads my blog unless they know me or somehow against their better judgment subscribe to receive updates every time I post. This too is okay.
It is interesting to note that often times I have the perception that many of my thoughts brilliant or absurd, simply go into the void. In a way that satisfies me. It seems to an extent that maybe my externalized thoughts have no affect on the external world they're evicted into. Now of course that isn't true. I mean, my thoughts have an effect. For one thing they're taking up server space! For another thing it might be that somewhere out there on the internet someone is reading my thoughts and maybe giving them consideration. To the effect that my thoughts (on the internet or otherwise) have influence is nothing relevant.
And yet here I am still posting. Still up keeping this blog that was started in 2009. At that time I was chronicling my time as a Catholic seminarian with the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. After my time of discernment of the priesthood, I of course attended college as a meteorology student - which unfortunately ended abruptly. Nonetheless, I married my best friend soon after I left my university campus, and now I'm working in the IT field which was my backup career. Of note it is not so different from my second major which was computer science.
As it pertains to the present, I have, after a few years of being absent from a couple of my habits that I had well developed and established over the years, resumed reading books at a fairly good pace. I finally read and completed Frank Herbert's Dune I'm proud to say. At the moment am reading through the fourth book of the "Star Carrier" series by Ian Douglas, which if you haven't read it is a military hard science fiction in a similar vein as Battlestar Galactica. There are nine books in that series, so I've got some reading ahead of me.
If someone had told me 5 years ago that juggling a family life full-time job and several hobbies including astronomy, meteorology, and computer programming would be difficult - I might find myself to be of agreement. However, I found that with a little bit of time management, discipline, and denying myself binge watching YouTube one can indeed find time for just about anything. I think that is a crucial lesson that I have learned in the last 5 years that has been the hardest lesson not in understanding, but in application. Especially with my responsibilities as an on-call technician I have had to learn to deal with one of my personal irritations, that is, being interrupted. And despite this, despite the distractions and interruptions that work and family life often brings to my attention I am still able to find time to read and to pursue my interests and hobbies.
I don't always get to do everything I want to do when I want to do it. That's okay! In fact, in a lot of ways, I'm better for it. In case a lot of people do not know when you are In a technical support role for a tech company. At some point you get used to jumping from task to task to task. You even get used to having days where the frustration level and the chaos of the situation is such that you wonder how and why your company hired you. I think this is what people mean when they refer to Impostor Syndrome - that self-perception that your skills are absolute rubbish. But the most satisfying part of every day is going to bed knowing that I've done my best and more importantly, there's only 24 hours in one day. Again, time management is a skill and a good one to learn at that.
