Week Notes 11 and 12
📝May 19th 2025- June 1st 2025
This one will be a long one as this is technically two week notes squeezed into one.
🌱 Highlights of the Week
Had a short get-away with my partner's family at Thailand! We took the train to Hatyai and it was such a fun (but super tiring) experience. There was lots of eating and shopping, and it's really nice as things there are a few Ringgit cheaper. The seafood and fruits there are cheap and high quality, and the Thai food there is to die for! I always say that if I ever had another choice of place to live in where there could be better food than Malaysia, it would be Thailand. Not good for my weak stomach that can't take too much spice, but it doesn't stop me from trying. Here are some pictures of the trip that I took:
Drafted my study's proposal and submitted it! After the email I sent the other week, my supervisor and I set up a time to speak to discuss my progress. To be frank, I think it didn't go that well. There were some issues with one of the variables I had chosen, though thankfully it was only a moderating variable and not part of the direct relationship. He suggested I switched that out, and that meant that I had to do a lot of research on that particular variable and that took up a lot of time.
I spent a lot of time trying to re-link everything, but, thankfully the theoretical framework or lens I was trying to use was something that can be re-utilized even with the change of the variable and I didn't have to start from scratch. I had that submitted and he reverted it back with some comments, and I'm so happy that the variables are all approved!
Caught up with work after being out-of-office for 3 days. Interestingly, two other colleagues were out as well at the same time, and I realized that the company I'm working for does not have a good system in place for cases like these. It took a few hours to go over all the missed emails and messages and just to make sure everything is cleared up in preparation for the rest of the week. It's oddly comforting...
Got back with HSK 1! I'm almost done from completing the lessons for this level - so glad that I've picked it back up (started this almost a year back) and although I'm not taking the test (yet, at least) it feels good to be back learning. After this level, I'm hoping to listen more frequetly via podcasts/shows. If you have any recommendations for beginner level Mandarin, I would LOVE to hear them.
Dropped the Bible Project course, Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. Although I think Tim Mackie makes a great teacher, this course assumes too much of the audience that they have a good grasp of the contents of the Bible already. I think this would be great for someone who has already read through the Bible (or most of it, at least) and just wants to learn more regarding the historical context surrounding it, and some addiitional interpretations. Though this is through a faith-based lens though, so there's that to consider! I'm trying to build up a rough guideline for myself to follow through, and this is what I've came up with, so far (if you're interested!)
🎬 Watched
- A lot of Severance! My partner and I were watching episodes of Severance during the downtime we had during the trip we had. We finished the first season and he has now moved on to season two. It's fun seeing his reactions and hearing all his theories. He also does not want to watch any theory videos or look at any Reddit threads as he wants to not be influenced by strangers on the internet. During the rewatch, I realized that there's so many hints on what is to come. The rewatch also reminded me that I have to read/listen to The You You Are book soon!
- Started the 3rd season of Hacks. The second season ended with Ava and Deborah parting ways, and I'm very curious on how they're going to move forward with this. Would they be working together again? I can see that Deborah is unhappy with all the placating behaviour from her team, and misses Ava's sharp and honest tongue. I imagine that a heartwarming apology and invitation to Ava to work with her again will come in the next 1-2 episodes.
🎮 Played
- Played a few quick rounds of Apotris! Tetris is a comfort game for sure.
- Played some Sudoku (and failed lol). I've been working on this super cheap Sudoku sheet I found on Etsy and it's been frustrating me a LOT. There are times where I would feel like I'm almost completing the puzzle, but, I would eventually notice that I had missed out a redundant number on a row. When things like that happen, I typically like to do a fresh restart as I don't know if I've been just building on that mistake and making 1000x mistakes after the first one.
📖 Read
Finished the Self-Compassion book by Kristin Neff. This was an unusual one - I started this audiobook when I was on the way back from Thailand, as I was approaching the draft proposal submission for my thesis, and had thought that I better get some sort of progress made. As mentioned, I needed to replace one of my variables and self-compassion was one of the candidates.
Self-compassion makes for a great case for itself. It's great against perfectionism, negative thought processes, and has had a LOT of peer-reviewed articles out there testing its correlations (and even some causal effects) with psychopathlogies. The author is also the person who populated self-compassion, as she seems to have spearheaded research surrounding this concept, and is regarded as the leading person around it, until now.
This book is good, but it definitely does take an open mind from my end to complete it, as there were some sections of the book that goes in very anecdotally, which is okay, but as I was going into it to hear more on research surrounding the topic, it took me by surprise. I would say that this book can serve as a great intro around self-compassion, but if you're looking for a concise thing to wrap your head around it, this recent review she wrote (with relevant citations of other studies testing out self-compassion through correlational/experimental studies) is a great resource.
Continued Fredrik Backman's Friends on audio! I think I have a realization that Backman's books all work better on audio for me. Back when I was reading Anxious People, I recall enjoying it but not having a drive to really pick it up and keep going. Until I got found an audiobook version of it. It's the same case as this. I just feel like his books are more suited to be consumed as heartwarming movies like A Man Called Ove (which I loved), or I might just not jive with his writing style. The story and characters feel more lively when I can hear their voices (his books are pretty heavy in dialogue too) and doesn't feel as 1-dimensional to me. I'm almost half way the book now, and I still feel like the author is trying his very best not to reveal the mystery of the whole 'Friends' aspect of the painting the book centres around, but there's some clues now to what had happened in the past. It's a bit too slowly-paced for me, but I'll have to see how this pans out.
Finished Magnus Archives Season 1! Very eery vibes throughout and I have no clue wtf happened at the end, but I'm curious to see what happens next.
🎧 Listened To
- viagr aboys by Viagra Boys. I've been listening to this over and over the last few weeks. I love how pop-ish they got in the latest album. It's an oddly sing-along-able post-punk album, and they never take themselves too seriously, which makes the album so fun to listen to. Honestly this might go into my Top 10 albums of 2025.
- The new Matt Berninger album, Get Sunk. I wasn't too big of a fan of the National's recent albums, but I think this one lands better for me. There's a more natural rhythm to the songs here, and it doesn't feel like it drones on compared to his first album under his name.
🔗 Noteworthy Links
- With perfect products, there's nothing unexpected and no additional stories. I'm not saying that being perfect or imperfect is one better than another, rather I was simply reflecting on how this tendency of admiration for the imperfect has arisen, because I find it curious how we have reached this point when perfection has always been idealized. Trying to make better cell phones, computers, cars, clothes, and now vintage is popular? I even find it comical.
[49/100] for #100DaysToOffload
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