Reflection and Reading

The holiday has been amazing so far. I went up to Mt. Shasta with my family, and we hiked a bunch and saw quite a few waterfalls and got some great views of a couple mountains. We also saw the new Star Wars, and sat down for a big formal dinner on Christmas Day. On the way home we dropped in on a 100(!) year old great-aunt and her family. It’s been one of my favorite holidays yet, and I’ve had a lot of good holidays. I’m really grateful for the people in my life, and the experiences I’ve been able to have. Holidays and vacations are wonderful opportunities to step back and revisit life, especially when it starts to seem like it’s spinning out of control. I’ve let myself get pretty overwhelmed recently; I did a lot of sleeping the first day and a half or so of my family’s visit, because it was the first real chance I had to slow down. But being in that place I think made me appreciate the break all the more. It’s helped me do a lot of reflecting during this holiday, and my plans for the future are coming a lot more into focus. Perfect timing for New Years’, what?

One thing I’m focusing on for the future is a book on Swift programming, Sams Teach Yourself Swift in 24 Hours. I adore the Sams Teach Yourself series; if I ever need to pick up a computer skill and see a book from the series on it, that’s what I pick up. There are only a couple other series that I find so dependable. The book has been great so far, and I’m already appreciating several details about the language that make it unique, or at least different from the languages that I have experience with. The other books I’m currently reading are still treating me pretty well, too. I haven’t made much progress in A History of Japanese Mathematics, but The Signature of All Things keeps twisting and turning in all kinds of delicious directions. I’ll certainly be doing a writeup of that one for the Book Reviews section here, even if it is aimed at a little more of a niche audience than some of the other books I read. Everything has a niche I guess, some are just a little more clearly defined than others.

It’s amazing what you can do with a day. It’s amazing what you can do with a long weekend. Life is full of so many opportunities, and there are so many things to learn out there. I have a lot of hopes for the future, and I have a lot of things that I am grateful for. I hope you’ve had a wonderful 2017, and I hope you have an incredible 2018.

Burney Falls