Programming
😐
I devoted almost the full 10 hours allotted to the project last week (Data Structures and Algorithms in Java by Robert Lafore), but I spent most of that time figuring out meta issues, like how exactly to take notes and turn them into flashcards, so I didn’t even finish the chapter I was on the week before (on arrays and binary search), but I decided to put off flashcards until a future project, maybe next month, when I catch up on my learning system setup. For now I’ll just work on taking notes more efficiently as I push myself through the book.
COVID-19
😐
Last week I didn’t really leave the apartment or keep up with COVID-19 news or do any housework. I was mostly focused on getting through work each day, since I was especially tired a lot of the week. I had already decided I wanted to try to maintain a regular routine as much as possible and not create any habits I’d have to unlearn once life returned to something like normal, and I’ve realized that includes not taking afternoon naps I couldn’t take at work. So now I’m back to working on getting more sleep at night.
I did take a short walk through the neighborhood over lunch on Monday, and that was nice, so I’ll try to do more of that. The neighborhood felt quiet but pretty normal, as if there weren’t a crisis going on, but of course I knew there was, so that cast its usual surreal mental haze on the experience.
This week I’ll have to venture back out into the coronavirus cloud (my term for the outside world, which some people seem to treat as being saturated with disease, kind of like in this creepypasta) to have my Remicade infusion at the hospital (the outpatient building, so hopefully relatively safe) and possibly to shop for groceries, unless I decide to try delivery, which seems statistically better for the community’s health, since fewer people come into contact. I still have my new collection of nonperishables, but I’m trying not to dig into my emergency supplies too much until I really need them.
Spirituality
🙂
I listened to the latest book by Jim Wilder, an integration of Dallas Willard and the Life Model called Renovated. Dallas Willard was the well-known purveyor of spiritual disciplines within evangelicalism and a major figure in my conception of spiritual formation, and the Life Model is a paradigm based on neuroscience for psychological and spiritual development within communities. I was involved with them a while back through a local organization that does Immanuel prayer trainings, and I think they’re on to something, so I’m pleased to see this new book, since it merges two of my worlds in spiritual formation and because I think it’ll broaden the Life Model’s audience, especially since they’re working with an established publisher this time instead of self-publishing. The book is fairly short yet dense, so delivers its model of spiritual formation in the manner of a firehose, which could be disorienting for the uninitiated, but that’s kind of how the Life Model goes, and readers will need to follow up with the recommended resources in the back.
Fiction
🙂
Our book group at work for To Kill a Mockingbird is on hold, and my library checkout has been extended till at least June, but I decided to finish the audiobook anyway, and I loved it, mainly Atticus, Scout, and their relationship. I want to know what Black people think of the book though, since the author was white. But I’m at least glad to finally know the plot after all these years of hearing about it. A quote from Atticus in chapter 11 that was very helpful to me: “[Courage is] when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”
Video
🙂
I watched some nature livestreams while I worked:
. Farms (good with my new moody instrumental folk station on Pandora)
. Outdoor feeders (good with soft piano jazz)
. A beach in Hawaii near some of the Lost filming locations
People
🙂
I haven’t done much video calling since this shutdown started, but Friday our family had a Zoom call, and it was nice to see everyone and conversate–nicer than I expected, since I’m not used to that kind of socializing. I’m looking forward to our future virtual get togethers.
