Recap of 2022
Lots of stuff happened in 2022. So part 2 is here.
Well, given that I have barely written anything in 2021, I guess I will recap 2021 in here too. So this post is all about 2021. And kind of why…
After my internship at Axon ended on December 20 2021, I got hooked onto playing League of Legends. Well, I started playing in late 2020. But somehow this was at a different level. Let’s go back a bit to see why.
A weird 2020 happened. I kind of relapsed during Christmas break with league of legends all day. Usually in Christmas, I would do more stuff with family/friends, but that year, there were a bunch of restrictions, so I was just chilling. I exercised a bunch over that year, did school for 12 straight months (overloaded all those terms). A bunch of other up and downs I probably went over. But I guess I wanted a break. And so I got one, before my 2021 winter internship (remote) started.
So during the first third of 2021, I was just doing the regular software engineering intern stuff. Pretty fun. Did not exercise as much as before, just 7 miles every weekday morning. Weekends were usually just filled with league of legends most of the day. Weird. But yeah. Immediately after the last day of the internship, I was back at volunteering for the food bank (something I started doing 2020 summer). It was weird too.
Kind of a complete 180. I barely played league anymore. A new routine began, since I also had a school term (though a lighter 3 course load). Waking up around 5am every morning. Running. Breakfast. Do a podcast episode. Volunteer at food bank from around 9:30–2pm. Come back home and have a late lunch. Go to the basement and do some indoor cycling for some time (45 min — 1.5 h, depends). Maybe do another podcast episode with a guest now. Go for a outdoor walk? Dinner. More homework? Chilling.
It was simpler at the beginning, but towards the end of the summer, I would cycle for around 1.5 hours every day and run more. I would also eventually end up sleeping before the sun set. Which is like around 8pm ish. Damn.
Weekends were more chill though. Still kept up with running (back to 2019/2020 normal levels) with long runs on Sunday. Made taco lunch on Sunday for the house. A bit of league of legends here and there. Did twitch livestreams from time to time. But overall, I was stuck in this routine cycle. Felt like a time loop.
Why did I volunteer? Many reasons. Why every day in summer 2021 without taking any days off (it’s Monday-Friday excluding a few holidays if I recall correctly). But during that time, I was doing a lot of client-facing stuff like check in, intake forms, etc. Felt a bit more exhausting than just simple labor like packing, moving, etc. Though it’s only open Mon,Tues,Thurs, so Wednesdays and Fridays were more chill. Sometimes the snacks were good, like after the Costco or whole foods delivery! Hype!
But I would sit on the chair in the reception — outside area. Sometimes during down times just look outside and think to myself, man, maybe Seattle would be much better than this. Part of the reason why I liked the food bank is that I won’t be glued to a screen all day. Not sure. But I would also think to myself how hype and celebratory I would be after the last day of volunteering, which would be the day before my fall internship at Axon started.
I would think to run the usual route, with a tiny modification that goes up a small/medium ish hill, look onto the sunrise and feel accomplished and happy. That never happened. Maybe I kept forgetting, or I just kept grinding out the runs (though I loved running — listening to olivia Rodrigo/Dua Lipa every morning every day for 1.5–2 hours was awesome)
(also some days of course I would hang out with friends and stuff during free time like weekends or after volunteering). But overall aside from that it felt time loopy.
When the fall internship started again, it was similar. This time I could visit Seattle a couple times which was really fun! Especially meeting the team in person. The runs were not as time loopy. Though from beginning to end of internship it felt like it went down. Peaked at over 100 miles in the 3rd week of October, my first time going over 100 miles in a Mon-Sun running week. In September I run+biked for over 100 hours. That was awesome too. I think my peak was right there. But afterwards due to having to travel (for those Seattle trips) and just maybe burning out(?), the exercise I ended up doing lowered quite a bit.
I also did not take any breaks. Except for the weekends and holidays in 2021, I was basically working or volunteering/school. Literally. Literally literally. Looking back, I knew from Jan-July (when I started full time in Seattle), I can do whatever I want. Figure my life out. Whether this time loopy thing was good. Rest. Relax.
But it was not the best mentality either. Not taking any breaks is not the best idea. It was the most I exercised and run in a year by far. Volunteered more than I volunteered from 1999–2020 combined. Because of my morning routine run structure and that my team was working PST time, I was usually doing a bit more hours than I’d ideally prefer (though it’s really fun at times and worth it). I also made more fun, and decently-edited videos for work. Very inspired by my co workers all the time, so I could easily think of fun plots and stories.
I guess that’s a recap of 2021. That context is needed for 2022.