2018 in Review

A compilation of things that I did in 2018:

• Hosted an awesome extern at Autodesk who developed 3D models of electronic parts for Tinkercad
• Solved two food-themed puzzles at Mystery Hunt. Participated in a YouTube live green screen puzzle that was one of the most creative I’ve seen in any hunt I’ve participated in.
• Interviewed and subsequently declined a job as an Assistant Professor of UX
• Applied for a faculty job I thought I was qualified for and didn’t make it past round 1
• Ran a mini ATtiny workshop at Ace Monster Toys in Oakland
• Had a memorable za’atar flatbread at Reem’s in Oakland
• Gave a talk on Design Generalism at Berkeley’s Jacobs Institute for Design
• Published Rainbow Glow NeoPixel collaboration with Erik Naumann on Instructables
• Designed a pop-up room escape with Joshua Brooks for an internal Autodesk conference
• Decided I needed to find a reliable pair of socks. Bought socks from Nordstrom Rack that were really soft but got holes quickly
• Visited the Grand Canyon, Sedona, and Antelope Canyon
• Left my job at Autodesk to move back to the east coast
• Upon quitting my job, I treated myself to a solo dinner at Lazy Bear in SF and reaffirmed why I didn’t want to stay in the Bay area
• Had a mini SF snack crawl and dinner at Stones Throw with good friends
• Saw an amazing set from Chris Cohen at Cafe Du Nord as my last concert in SF
• Updated the design of tastysnacking. Added statistics to the site
• Moved to Brooklyn
• Attended the Recurse Center for 6 weeks and enjoyed learning more about SVGs and making new friends
• Made the mistake of using a terrible moving company. Avoid North Star Movers at all cost.
• Attempted to try all the baos at Golden Steamer
• Escaped a subway-themed room escape in NYC with friends from Recurse
• Bought a set of socks that have a no-hole guarantee but didn’t have good elastic and subsequently don’t stay in place.
• Helped organize a snack crawl in NYC with Recursers
• Biked across the Brooklyn Bridge (also my first time crossing the bridge more generally)
• Started a new job at Glitch. Realized how valuable and wonderful it is to eat lunch with coworkers
• Gave a Recurse localhost talk on Stencilfy
• Started going to the gym before work and exercising more frequently, for less time.
• Discovered that I could read on my Kindle and use the elliptical simultaneously, which helped me read more
• Found a Japanese city pop mix that I listened to a lot this year
• Read There, There, my favorite book from this year
• Got a Korean donut from David Chang
• Went to my first non academic conference at Strangeloop. Found out people really like using GIFs in non academic presentations.
• Upgraded my sound system with a subwoofer
• Created a bongo cat meme generator app. Had a lot of fun seeing what other people created with it.
• Started reading a dictionary of design but fell behind
• Built some microbit Bluetooth web apps on Glitch
• Was inspired by the Science Fair documentary about the ISEF Science Fair
• Released my first feature on Glitch: user collections (here’s a sample of the SVG apps I made at RC)
• Wrote a blog post to answer FAQs about applying to the MIT Media Lab
• Bike was stolen from Grand Army Plaza
• Bought a Pixel 3 phone and switched from iOS to Android
• Started using Dark Mode on everything
• Volunteered at NYC-based nonprofit Mouse during their Maker Feast event
• Got an iPad Pro and started getting back into drawing
• Illustrated an updated home page design for Glitch
• Had a delicious vegan pho from Sans in Carroll Gardens
• Bought the highest rated women’s socks on Amazon but found them too thin and not tight enough
• Ended the year having read 60 books, surpassing my goal of 36. I started but didn’t finish 15 books last year. Overall, I’m getting better at abandoning books, even if I’m more than halfway through, because hanging on unhappily to things you don’t enjoy prevents you from engaging in those that are more fulfilling.
• Ate ants for the first time at Little Tong — they tasted like little bursts of lemon

2019 Resolutions

• Be more forgiving
• Read less
• Make more
• Find a decent pair of socks