Things are going a little bit better this week, I think in large part to
sticking to my idea of regimenting myself. I bought some clothes to
excercise in during my lunch break, and I'm feeling the vitality flow
back into my body, even though I know it will take a good amount of
effort to reach where I used to be, fitness-wise. We called and secured
a new apartment this past weekend, and we hope to be moving in July,
which has also been a huge morale boost for myself and my family.
I've been steadily studying for the A+, and found some good CCNA
material which I have realized is a better move than the Network+. The
A+ material is such a strange mixture of "Things I knew in middle
school" and "Memorize the specs for 100 different standards" that it
feels both trivially easy and tremendously difficult. I know that a lot
of my trepidation towards the A+, and why I have been so adamant about
studying it, is purely nerves. I want to know going into the exam that
I'm going to pass, without a doubt. The CCNA is interesting because I am
still fairly mystified by networking, even as I get more versed I'm
learning all those "things you didn't know you didn't know". I've
ordered one of those mini-PCs that are made for use with Pfsense or
Opnsense, and I hope to get some experience setting that up soon; it
should improve the home network and give me some interesting features to
play around with, while also giving me more in-depth hands on experience
with networking stuff, so a big win all around.
Also, I've started looking into Python a little more. I've been reading
"Automate the Boring Stuff with Python" and also messing around with the
W3Schools Python materials, which have not been incredibly challenging,
but have provided a nice little break in the monotony of studying, since
coding is a bit more interactive than watching lectures or reading flash
cards. Maybe once I'm better at it I could write a Python script to
update my Phlog here when I have a new post to make. That should be
simple enough to handle. I'm excited to see what I can do with Python
the better I get to know it.
It's profoundly strange to be excited to see the future, and I would be
lying if I said there wasn't a lot of anxiety over the "what ifs" of my
life at this stage. I try to remember to let myself be happy and
excited, not just in spite of the bad things, but because of them. A
very special someone said to me once, when I was having a Very Bad Day,
"Having a bad day today just means that you're getting that bad day out
of the way so you can have a good day later," and I think that was a
very solid piece of advice. Maybe I've collected enough good days to
coast for a while, maybe something horrible will happen to me on the way
home from work today, who knows? I sure don't.
