uhhhhhhhhhh 2017

Hi. This will be a quick and not very well-thought-out post because I'm trying to cram it in before the new year. A few things happened in 2017:

• Flew around a lot and ended up an A-lister for the first (and probably only) time.
• Changed programs at work and now I feel more challenged and engaged at work.
• Played some Magic to very middling and unexciting results.
• Completed another Tough Mudder and ran an entire 5k for the first time (to the detriment of my knees).
• Ate Gus's Fried Chicken. 10/10 will do again.
• Saw a total (well, something like 93%) solar eclipse.
• Successfully replaced light switches in my bathroom electrocution-free.
• Put up some wall decor inside my home, mostly due to an observation from someone who I cared a lot about that my walls were "very beige."
• Started dating actual strangers from the internet, which sounds like everything that your parents told you not to do as a kid in the 90s but is completely normal today.

We'll see what happens in 2018.

"Meet me in Montauk"

I left work sometime after 6 pm today, finally making up all of the hours that I needed to make up due to having no vacation time left for the year. As I was crossing the distance on foot between office and car, I checked my phone and was reminded that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was being streamed for free tonight starting at 6:55. I drove home not slowly, stopping at Five Guys along the way to pick up a burger. I got home shortly before 6:55 and started the stream, finding out that the movie actually begins at 7:05, so I inhaled the burger and cleaned up before pouring myself a larger than normal amount of Talisker and sat down in front of my computer just in time for the start of the movie on a Friday night.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has always been one of my favorite movies since I first saw it over 13 years ago, but this viewing really hit me the most. I felt like I needed it this time. It feels like it's been several weeks since I've really been myself. It seems like some people have noticed something different about me lately, and not for the better. Sleeping at night has become a problem lately. I feel like I'm a zombie during most days. Pretending that everything is fine has become tiresome. I feel bad for making other people feel genuinely concerned for me. Somewhere deep down inside I know that everything will be fine, but it'll take getting through day after day after day to get there. This year has been somewhat of a roller coaster ride so far. I know that I can make it through this mental cloud, even if sometimes it feels otherwise.

Farewell, 2016

To sum up 2016: people died, gorilla died, more people died. Also, Pokemon Go, becoming a homeowner, and yours truly actively looking for a +1 online happened (still looking...). I read exactly one book this year: Sand, by Hugh Howey. Not as good as Wool but still very good, probably because the setting is in a future sand-covered dystopia of present day Colorado. I watched some movies this year, some of them were good and some of them were so awful that I feel bad about the time and money that I spent watching them. Arrival is one of the good movies that I watched.

Poop emoji (and other emoji, but who cares?) accessories at Fashion Island Mall in Newport Beach, California

Farewell, old home

Hello, new home

Capsized a dragon boat with 21 people and myself on board while stranded on a stormy lake during the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival. Apparently it was the cool thing to do because mere seconds after my boat capsized, two other boats also capsized. I hope nobody grew new appendages after being submerged in the green Sloan's Lake water.

Pokemon Go players on Huntington Beach Pier.

Completed a third Tough Mudder, this time skipping two water obstacles near the end after discovering that my right leg was gushing blood after the Arctic Enema.

Woooo, Lindsey Stirling! This may have been the last show at Red Rocks for 2016 because it was October and it was cold.

The Ides of May

We're approximately 46% of the way through 2016 and it has been somewhat eventful so far, thanks to my slightly more YOLO approach to life. I've been continuing my quest outwards from my shell, the Denver Broncos won Super Bowl 50, and kissing complete strangers at tourist attractions turns out to actually be kind of fun.

Went skiing for the first time ever back in January. Fortunately, I had good company to teach me how to ski. Towards the middle of the day I was falling less, but then I embarked on a very long green run at the end of the day and couldn't stop falling. Eventually I got a snowmobile ride down the mountain as one of the last people stuck on the mountain as it was becoming dark. I had enough fun during my first time skiing to want to go again someday. Incoming stock photo of Winter Park from Wikipedia because I failed to take any photos during the ski trip:

Played some Magic in Columbus, Washington DC and Albuquerque. Columbus and Washington DC didn't go so well (but still had a good time with good company), and Albuquerque went better than expected even though I missed the cash cutoff on tiebreakers. At GP Albuquerque, I had a rough start, limping into day 2 with the minimum 6-3 record with an ok sealed deck. Then in day 2, I played against my teammate in round 12 as we were both 2-0 in our first booster draft - his draft deck was insane and he won the round. My round 13 opponent dropped from the tournament at 8-4 so that was a nice and unexpected bye round for me, and round 15 came down to a close game 3 with blowouts and bombs on both sides to decide the match, with the winner ending at 11-4 with an outside shot for $250. I also got to play Eldrazi during Eldrazi Winter at SCG Regionals, which felt dirty. Along the way, I'm learning to not be afraid to learn how to play a "good" or "best" deck in a format, no matter how difficult people perceive the learning curve to be - all it takes is practice and learning from better players (thanks internet!).

Spent a long weekend with the bros in Chicago, which was a good time. Thanks to my brother for providing us with solid lodging, tourist tips and hanging out with us. Some of us consumed entirely too much beer over the course of the weekend (I'm one of those people). We also ate a lot of food, including (Cho Sun) Ok Korean food but not including chips. Took a trip back to middle school and high school with the Linkin Park kick that we were on. Voluntold to kiss a complete stranger girl next to the bean at Millenium Park (for science, of course), which is something that I would have never been down for in a previous life.

Looking forward to this summer, I'll be taking a hiatus from Magic to work on dragon boat. The plan for this year is to actually be a stern during the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival.

"I don't want to feel bluuuuuuuuuuue anymoooooooore"

Another year, another blog post. Thanks Myra for inspiring me to write this by writing your own.

2015 was ok. Things that happened include promotion, outdoors, travel, friends (old and new), Magic, and beer, to name a few. Some notables from the past ~10 months:



Saw DJ Kristian Nairn, better known as Hodor from Game of Thrones, during his Rave of Thrones show in Denver. I don't follow Game of Thrones and I also don't really listen to EDM, but it was a pretty cool show. I was exhausted from attempting to dance the entire night.



Visited the Great Sand Dunes with family during Memorial Day weekend. The place lived up to expectations: sand dunes and more sand dunes. Also hail and rain and wading across a cold creek.



Won a Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier on Easter Sunday, which qualified me to play in a Regional Pro Tour Qualifier 20 minutes from home a few months later. I do not envy the people who traveled 8+ hours to play in it. Missed the top 8 on tiebreakers after narrowly winning the final round of swiss due to my opponent's mistake on a crucial turn, so it's yet another 2-match-wins-away-from-qualifying-for-the-Pro-Tour for me. Also finished in the minimum cash bracket at Grand Prix Las Vegas this year, but wasted a strong start while doing it by trainwrecking the final booster draft deep into Day 2 (still 2 match wins short of a PT qualification). For the most part, I played out of my mind this past summer and ever since these two tournaments my level of play has slid downward to the point where I needed to take a break and regroup my mental state.



Participated in the Dragon Boat Festival again. I feel like we had a fun group of people on our team this year and I look forward to participating again. I began training to be a stern this year but did not feel ready to stern at festival, so hopefully next year I will be sterning dragon boats for real.



Did the Tough Mudder again. They really intensified all of the obstacles this year compared to last year, and as a result I did not successfully complete many of the strength obstacles. Some of us had a hard time walking afterwards, for various reasons. Had more teammates this year, which made the experience much better. Also scraped up my left knee in the Crybaby obstacle while scrambling to escape from the peppermint air makeshift tear gas and got a tetanus shot a few days later just to be safe. Was sick for almost a week afterwards as well.



Been hanging out with Anna (high school friend who found her way to Colorado) more often this year. She's opened my eyes to the mountains of Colorado that I've never explored on my own, including scaling rock slides sideways near the top of fourteeners that probably aren't supposed to be there in the first place (and hopefully skiing next month). Also beer at the Mountain Toad and Rocky Mountain oysters.



Went to my first NFL game, and it was a good one.



Went to a Seattle Rock Orchestra show with Stephen and crew. That was a good show. There was even an astronaut roaming around. Also crashed a date afterwards (oops).



Spent a week in southern California for work, which was the first time that I've ever been to southern California. It was nice. Got to follow some friends online who were tearing it up at a tournament in Vegas while I was in California, which was also nice. Their results that weekend may even inspire me to play more and get better at Magic again too.

Also been reading and listening to some self-help material, because I have issues and want to overcome them. Despite all outward appearances, my inner negativity, low self-esteem and complete lack of confidence in life are really dragging me down mentally and negatively affecting everything that I do. I'm pretty sure they've been with me for forever, but I'm just now recognizing how much it's affecting me and that I need to do something about it if I don't want to succumb to it.