March 2024 - Bryan's Briefing
Hey friend,
it's my second month back in Germany. I've spent more time at home, working on my own projects and on my day job. Made ToLearnKorean.com and WebDev.BryanHogan.com, but more on that later down below.
I found new appreciation for two simple activities to help myself, taking a walk and writing a diary. Taking a long walk and having an honest conversation with myself gives me the opportunity to reset my mood on any negative feelings I might be having. Not only does it feel good to be physically active after spending too much time working on my desk, it removes me from any harmful instant gratifications, gives me time to be truly honest to myself and as my walk continues, my head can come up with new ideas and directions.
Writing a diary at the end of the day allows me to reflect on the day, reflect on the things I have accomplished and done, give me direction for the next day and my future actions. It also just helps me keep track of the joys I have in life.
Working on my personal projects sparks so many new ideas on other projects as well, so much other cool things, maybe even more awesome than what I'm focussing on now, but I know if I don't focus on something and jump from one idea to the next, I won't get anywhere with them, there will always be new ideas popping up. I do write them down in a Trello column I use for myself to look them up later.
I'm also still fighting the eternal struggle of getting distracted, realising on a free day that it's already 15:00 and that I have spent exactly 0 minutes on the thing I wanted to work on. At least now I know that I will use React Native and not CapacityJS and Ionic for the mobile app I will develop for my bachelor's project. One rule that has helped me greatly to not get side-tracked is to not use my phone in the first two hours after waking up.
So while I am currently often stuck at home due to my health there's also a positive side to that. While I am waiting for my doctor appointments throughout the next few months which will hopefully help me get rid of my health problems I can save up a bit financially and make things I enjoy.
🌱 Cool Content I Made
ToLearnKorean.com (website) - Making a website for other Korean learners. I am writing all of the HTML and CSS (the foundation of every website) myself, I want to improve my web development skills. Also using the Astro framework. Let me know, does it feel professional? How does it look and feel to use? Currently still focused on developing the site, once that is mostly done I will shift my priorities to actually writing the content of it.
WebDev.BryanHogan.com (website) - Making a resource for other web developers. Want to build a collection of quality components (things that are used on almost every website like a navigation bar) to use for any web development project. And while I am making that might as well include some other help for people wanting to develop a website.
Traveling Spain (Instagram): Still had pictures and videos of the time I went to Spain which I hadn't shared.
About BryanHogan.com (website)- Updated my about page on my personal site.
❤️ Cool Stuff By Others
🍿 Videos
How to Meal Prep in a Good Way by KWOOWK - A great strategy on how to eat better and spend less time cooking. Never underestimate how important eating well is for staying active and healthy.
Redesigning A Website About Free Betting On College Basketball by Hyperplexed - A short video which takes you through the process of redesigning a website. The channel in general has a lot of high quality videos on UI & UX design.
How to Game Design by Jonas Tyroller - A great introduction on how to design a game. Video is structured in a way that it includes a lot of parallels to search algorithms.
Why Spec Ops: The Line Mattered by Mark Brown - Essay on a game that looks like a typical older war shooter but is actually highly critical of its own genre.
📝 Blog Posts
Why and how to write things on the Internet by Ben Kuhn - Why should you consider writing on the internet? Found it interesting to see someone's view on how writing on the internet has helped them.
Why You Should Start a Blog Right Now by Alexey Guzey - Similar to the post above, why to start, what to write and how to begin.
Willingness to look stupid by Dan Luu - How much better could life be if you are willing to look stupid? Also great example of how a website without CSS looks like.
How To Write Stuff No One Else Can by Ethan Brooks - Who makes writing that stands out, and how? Site is filled with great stuff about modern writing.