Oh my, it’s been *checks calendar* five months since my last post. What more is there to say besides…oops? Life got a bit busy, and then even busier. I took some trips (more on those in another post, I promise!), completed another grad class, turned 26, aaaand now I’m prepping for my move to Cambridge. Despite the incredibly dreary weather outside and a minor career crisis a-brewin’ internally, I’d say life’s alright!

Earlier this week, the fall semester began. I’m taking “Natural Language Processing,” which is what all the recent AI hype has been about. NLP is essentially answering the question: how can we make models that understand and respond to human language? It’s a pretty cool problem space, and I like how the course material is super up-to-date.

Having said that, the stress of doing grad school while being a full-time employee continues to weigh on me. I’m officially halfway through my program, a fact that makes me feel accomplished but also overwhelmed that there’s so much left. I’ve also started questioning what I’m even doing this all for. I applied to my program under the assumption that I’d be a software engineer for my entire career; now, though, I’m not so sure. Can I see myself coding for decades? Is my current day-to-day something I’m happy with? Am I willing to forgo my current (read: comfortable) lifestyle?

I’ve spoken to several people who have been asking themselves the same questions. Which then, of course, prompts another set of questions: how big of a role should my job have in my life? Should my accomplishments, my “impact” so to speak, be tied to my career? Do I need or want to have an impact in the first place? Should my career make me happy, or is it enough for it to not make me sad?

My relationship to my classes has understandably been altered by this internal debate. I’m trying to think less about where this degree “will lead” and more about my interest in the individual topics. In doing so, I hope the stress of it all decreases somewhat. Learning is hard, but it should also be fun, right?

And speaking of fun things, lately I’ve also been trying to get more in touch with my creative side! I found a sketchbook from late 2020 that I’d contributed a whopping three pages to, so now I’m trying to draw on a more regular basis. And I just started reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, which is essentially a 12-week course in unblocking one’s creativity. The book introduces two tools for doing so: “morning pages” (aka daily stream-of-consciousness journaling) and “artist dates” (weekly solo outings where you go have fun with your inner artist). It’s a bit woo-woo, but I like the structure, journaling prompts, and calls to action. I’m actually doing my first “artist date” this weekend: a relaxed bike ride to an art supplies store, where I’ll buy some higher quality markers and colored pencils.

I’ll be careful not to buy too much stuff, though, especially in light of my move. That’s another to-do for the weekend: starting the process of actually putting things into boxes. So far, I’d been mainly focused on selling major furniture items like the couch and coffee table, but now that I’m a week out, I need to break out the packing tape.

Moving’s gonna be fun though! I’m excited for the new space, even though it’s much smaller. My new apartment will be right across from a culinary school, where I hope to take a few classes, and near a beautiful bike path. (Which reminds me, To-Do Item #19384: change the flat on my bike.) I’ll also be close to some great restaurants, a cozy live music venue, and some friends from my previous company!

As usual, I’ll end this post with a handful of recent iPhone pics: a cheese sandwich (not grilled! *gasp*) with homemade bread; Coconut looking adorably floofy; an incredible poppy seed cake that my boyfriend baked; my newfound love of sriracha; homemade burgers (i.e. we made both the patties and the brioche buns); and a selfie from today because I was #feelingcute.

🤟