Patrick Schoeps

What to Do

Having recently come to the conclusion (again) that I am generally bad at regulating my time when not working, I’ve decided to review a few different directions to take to better spend my time.

The problem is that I have cultivated a routine of “vegging out” when not working or exercising. IMO, time spent at home or alone socially (coffee shop, library, etc) are crucial to executing on a life plan, or learning. The problem is, I don’t really have a life plan. So, I’m going to break down a few different areas where I could potentially make better use of my time, in an effort to pick one.

Learn C

You have often thought of yourself as a hobbyist programmer due to your limited set of profficient programming languages (Ruby and Javascript). Learning a low level language like C could help you learn more about memory management and best practices. My main worry is that this will become boring quickly, and I won’t have the willpower to continue on. Still, C represents a good “bang for your buck” in terms of market value.

hacker news - best books to learn c

Take an online mathmatics course

You never really made it past pre calc, and often times feel that your knowledge of computer science could be bolstered by a more solid mathmatical foundation. Same drawbacks as learning C.

thread with discussion on topic

a programmers introduction to mathmatics

Pick up drawing again

I was making good progress using “drawing on the right of the brain”, I just couldn’t dedicate the time to sit down and do the exericses frequently. A lot of these topics loop back to the problem of motivation.

Find a project to build something using phycial electronics.

It would be nice to understand more that communication between hardware and software. Building a physical system and understanding how to program it might be a fun and more motivating. I lack a project to get started on, but I don’t think this would be hard to find.

hn thread on topic

build a computer course

Learn particle manipulation

Particle manipulation in programming could be a fun way to learn math while creating something visual. Not sure how relevant the knowledge would be. Also need more research on a good educational kickoff

bookmarks folder on topic

Find a way to start drumming again

When push comes to shove you’re a pretty good drummer. Maybe find a way to hit stuff again. I don’t know what my upper limit on scheduled activities is however, I might run into some anxiety from havint too many obiligations.

Join a yoga studio

Pick up plant shop again

This could also be thought of as “continue learning about SVG”.

Spec out business for wedding officiating

Build something with Python


September 4, 2023