[TW]²: September 15–21 of 2019 | #38
Project Approved + Book Club + Series 1 exam prep | TWTW #53
By the way, I forgot to mention that the juniors from our college are doing the FOSSMEC Code-A-Pookalam Challenge and I must say it is really impressive works!
Sunday (15/09/2019)
Did not go to church to give company to my Grand pa who was at home. Watched this meaningful TED talk in the morning. Starting to understand my twitter behavior.
Grandparents left at 1. I played chess and did not do much work till evening.
Monday (16/09/2019)
As I slept early yesterday, I was able to wake up in the morning at 4.30 AM. 1 Hour to complete the record, 1 hour for Datacamp + Public Speaking Course + Computational Photography.
No lab in the morning due to SOTI placement drive. I spent quite some time for project work — had to go to CUSAT to get some stationary work done.
Presented our work to Sir. He seemed semi-satisfied. I hope to win his trust in the time to come.
We had Training Cell + D.E.B.A.T.E. Club collaboration event. Most students did not come but for those who stayed back (from ECB), we tried our best to deliver a good experience. Rawn, Shawn and Steve are really putting in effort to add quality and I am grateful for that.
Returned home by metro to Kadavanthra station. Sandeep from ASISAT was in the tube as well so we had a good conversation together.
This video was quite a good find for me. I am writing a small story in my free time so why not publish it on Kindle?
Received the news that I was not chosen to speak at TEDxMITS. Glad that did not happen because now when I think I realize I am yet to have substantial content worth sharing with the gathering.
At home, I had bare little time so ate dinner, did some work online and then went to sleep at 10 PM.
Tuesday (17/09/2019)
Another eventful day at college. Realized that our project is not sufficient enough to complete the 0th Presentation criteria so I need to work on it today evening.
Found a lot of resources to learn the math behind Photogrammetry — the key ingredient required for the ARomapp project we are working on (to find volume of object from image renders). I decided to present my findings during the seminar hour so I shoot two birds at once.
At home, I received a mail from the Google Talent and Outreach team, India. My application for the scholarship is being processed and I will be informed of the status by October 10th (quicker than I expected!). Fingers crossed!
Wednesday (18/09/2019)
Remembered I ought to attempt GATE. At college, our project proposal got approved. In the evening, Steev from CSA — 3rd year explained Fuchsia Operating System by Google and what to expect from it in the time to come.
Ate out at Burger Spot in CUSAT campus with Rahul. Took the metro back home. Wasted my time in the evening and feel bad about it. Chess is killing a lot of time in my pursuits… especially when I am lazy to do what I ought to do.
Thursday (19/09/2019)
Cousin brother — Dejoe arrived from Bangalore. His sister (obviously my cousin) is preparing to tie the knot in two months time and there are certain arrangements to be made for the occasion. I hope he fulfills his duties by ensuring goals are promptly met.
In Distributed Systems, we completed Module 3. Lomin Sir certainly has a memorable way of teaching though one might argue if it is commendable. Programming Pragmatics is really interesting but feels quite scattered. Finally, really cool cryptography lost its awesomeness in the countless iterations of enhancements.
Afternoon we had lab — I finally completed the first but realized how behind in schedule I am. Evening D.E.B.A.T.E. Session was quite fun indeed. We had two fun events + 1 DEBATE (School uniforms necessary anymore?). Also Alina a 2nd year student is leaving for the U.S.A as her family is migrating there. We wished her all the very best and I hope she returns to our institution in the time to come.
At home, Dejoe’s family members from Elanthoor, Pathanamthitta arrived and we had a good time discussing matters together. Before sleeping, I completed a few online points to tick of the tasks on Habitica to keep the streak going.
Tried to encourage my peers to attend a Book readers meetup happening coming weekend at Kaloor.
Friday (20/09/2019)
Did my online courses in the morning. At college, gave a gala treat to my friends — the long pending one for placement at Deloitte, and Birthday. In the evening, church meeting plan got canceled so arrived home early to witness newly fixed Air Conditioners in home. Church vicar, trustee and secretary came home in the evening as part of visiting routine. Had a good conversation to understand family relations. We prayed together and he reminded me to come for tomorrow’s class that he is arranging.
In the evening, left my room and shifted to Dad’s room as cousin’s family is staying over for the weekend. I will need to not waste anytime if I need to successfully study for the exams in the right time and with the right dedication level.
Powerful quote by Ira Glass>
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me.
All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you.
A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this.
And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions.
And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
Saturday (21/09/2019)
Since I completed a year of TWTW, I decided to start a custom of reading what I wrote exactly a year ago, sharing the link to it over here and sharing my views about the same at the end of each write up. Also month ends, I go through any other write ups I released during the same month last year. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I would analyzing it.
Woke up quite relaxed in the morning. But my eyeballs would beg to differ. Print out my syllabus and decided to get the wheel rolling from 10 AM to 1 PM in complete flow state.
Tasks for today:
- Complete studying Computer Graphics, Programming Paradigms, Distributed Systems
- Attend Book exchange meetup happening at Kalloor at 3.30 PM
- Attend church vicars 5 PM class at Vytilla for Altar boys
- Go out for dinner with family in the evening.
Reality: Barely studied.
Realized that I need to take a new passport sized photograph to apply for GATE 2020. Shaved my promising beard but could not squeeze in the time to get it done.
The book meetup went quite well actually. Maitry from CUSAT, Gayathri from Bio-medical (junior) and Krishnan came from my network. Ashok (the person Poornima spoke about), Harris and India’s top reviewer in goodreads came and shared the books that they found quite engaging in their lives. We spoke about the powerful impact 1984, by George Orwell has even in todays world. Harris spoke about how 1984 is similar to the condition in Saudi Arabia from the surveillance point of view (muslims made to go to the mosque mandatorily )
Cafe Coffee Day celebration too! Woohoo.
Next, went to Church via Metro. Achen reminded us of our responsibilities as altar boys and how we should behave to bring forward the best results. After Sandhyanamaskaram, I requested him to bless my new kupaim. New clothing from tomorrow.
At home, examined the pumping problem that our apartment was facing. Varghese Uncle said I could go home but I reminded him I ought to know stuff to guide when no one else is available.
So much for acting all grown up, cause I went home 20 minutes later to meet Derick Achachan for the first time! Context: My cousin sister is getting married to this handsome man. Anyhow, I spoke quite a bit with him and really started to like his calm thought process yet articulate explanations for various matters.
Sunny called me up and asked if he could take my TEDxMEC ticket! I was badly looking for someone else to take it as I wanted to save that much time. I bought it because at one point of time I felt sorry for Abhijith, my junior who was working heavily to ensure the success of this program. Unfortunately, my exams were scheduled super close so I wanted to cancel it (Nerd moment).
Slept around 11 PM after joining the Book Club WhatsApp group.
Overall, an attempt to get back on routine but good failure realizations on the way. The key is to live minimal to activate control over your mind.
Weekend analysis >
The very first TWTW! I sure had a lot more time, energy and passion to be hyper clear about my actions. GSoC session for 1st years, exploring ways to engage with the student gathering etc. I spent quite some time initially to write so detailed but today it has helped me think faster and form precise points better. Something I value dearly.
I can proudly say some of those tangential ideas manifested in suitable forms for viable results in the future.
A good week. Look forward to the upcoming weeks to read more technical articles as I explore research papers for both Seminar and iBeTo.