Week Notes: 29

Nov 21, 2022 15:03 · 733 words · 4 minutes read weekly-reviews

This review is yet another monthly review. I’m glad that I’m finally able to write this. Here’s a quote on becoming an outlier:

The first step - perhaps the most enormous step - is to find what you are genuinely interested in.

If you are genuinely interested, you will discover endless opportunities for improvement. But if you are disinterested, even obvious improvements will feel like a chore.

And, if you can maintain your genuine interest and curiosity as the years accumulate, you will become hard to compete with because you will have skill to go with your passion. If you’re interested, you’re dangerous.

After some deep thinking, the values most important to me ATM are: selfless honesty, compassion, patience, and gracefulness.

Free and Open Source (FOSS) Work

  • I got merge access to all of Nairobi LUG’s repositories.
  • Booked a flight to attend FOSDEM 2023 (February) in Brussels. Booking a flight is [risky but] cheaper.
  • In Genenetwork2, I merged: #738, #743, #744 #745, and #747
  • In Genenetwork3, I merged: #101 and #104.

Grad School

  • Sat for my module 4 exams. They went well.
  • It took some time for SU to receive funds for my grant. No one’s to blame except the institution’s bureaucratic processes. Also, mad shout out to the course administrator. She’s a god-send.
  • Started module 5 (the second-last module left before I finish my masters).

Long Form Reading

Personal & Miscellaneous

  • Replaced my national ID.
  • You only have 2 lives. And the second one begins when you realize that you only have one.
  • Find the intersection of what you like; what you can be good at; and what the world values.
  • Deleted my ex-partner’s number. Otherwise, I’d call them impulsively; and I reckon that’s not good for either of us.
  • Started the process of applying for a Schengen visa to travel to Brussels for FOSDEM 2023 in February.
  • I bought a new laptop: ThinkPad Carbon (4th Generator) with 16 GiB RAM and 512 GiB SSD.
  • Manga Recommendatian: sunken-rock
  • Keep ignoring feedback and life will keep teaching you the same lesson.
  • Poet and author Annie Dillard on the value of a schedule: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days.”
  • The benefits that arise from a good relationship—whether it be in marriage, friendship, business, or otherwise—are often produced over a long time span. Is it more important to win this battle or to maintain this relationship?
  • Not sure where I read/heard this: “I have everything I need for now. I do not need another person to complete or sustain me. I am happy and fulfilled. I may meet someone who will make me happier than I am today. Meanwhile, I will enjoy what I have today,” she once told me. She is decent and happily single, and it is her choice.
  • I’m not hurt, I’m healing. I’m not losing, I’m learning. I was not rejected, I was redirected. Negative things happen. Negative mindsets make them harder.
  • The more prepared person usually wins. You get credit for action, not preparation.
  • On productivity/scaling: “One of the common trappings of success is overproducing. Companies make money and rapidly expand their product line. Authors become popular and churn out books at a faster clip. Scale can empower, but it can also dilute. Something is lost when quantity is valued over quality. You have to maintain your standards even when all the forces around you seem to be calling for growth. Push back against more, more, more and remain committed to better, better, better.”