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Epoch VT!

2023-01-01 · 5 min read

Break has been pretty crazy this year! I worked all day Christmas Eve, Christmas, and this Wednesday, and had a half shift yesterday (and today). That didn't leave me much to do, to be honest, but I did get a new portfolio site up and running with a custom HTTP server, which is pretty cool.

I also got to attend Epoch VT, a satellite hackathon based on Epoch, organized by Hack Club! Fun facts: rode on an Amtrak for the first time in my life, got lost way too many times to count, and some more personal experiences. Also, the bagels at Burlington Bagel Bakery are so good.

Anyways, Happy New Year! I'm writing this to just sort of collect my thoughts. Maybe this should be in the Notes category, but I felt like I should put it in the General category for reasons I cannot fathom.

Programming language features

I attended a workshop at Epoch VT on building a programming language. One of the best workshops I've ever attended! I actually understood the stuff and it was a lot of fun getting an actual lexer → parser → evaluator running. Now that I have basic experience with building a programming language, that got me thinking: what features would I want in a programming language?

I don't exactly know yet, but here's how I would imagine writing a product() function in an future, currently imagined language:

fn product(arr) {
    var res = 1;
    for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
        res *= arr[i];
    }

    return res;
}

print(product([1, 2, 3]);
// => 6

Mental health

Yes, I admit I've always had a pretty cynical look of the new year. It's like, I want to make a change, but I know I'm going to fuck up somewhere along the way and give up my resolutions like that, so why should I even try?

But in the same vein (is that even a phrase?) I want to try again. So here goes nothing. Step one: my mental health.

First, if you couldn't tell by my writing style, I'm kind of all over the place. In fact, I have just resisted the urge to tell you that I'm getting a new table from IKEA so I can have my laptop and desktop on one desk (Hackintosh on desktop + Ubuntu on laptop = powerhouse), but I just gave in to that urge, and now I have to go back on topic.

Okay, so seriously. Lately, I've been feeling so burned out and so mentally unhealthy that I just had a mental breakdown a couple of days ago. So I kind of realized I need to put my priorities in order. I'm doing way too much. So pretty much:

  • I'm taking a break from indoor track. I'll keep working out and running at the gym, where I feel good about exercising. The competitiveness of it + the fact that I don't feel like part of a family (vs. cross country, where I did; also, I feel like the coach deeply disapproves of me or something). Instead of making me lose weight, it's making me gain weight. That's when you know something's off.
  • I'm going to get a desk as I mentioned before. My room lately has fallen out of disarray, and while I enjoy being a chaotic person, a messy room is not conducive to my thinking.
  • In line with the last point, my sleep schedule has fallen completely out of disarray. I'm going to try and get it back on track. I'm thinking of going to sleep at 8:30 PM and waking around 3:30 AM in the morning. Yes, I know that sounds kind of crazy. The thing is, it works the best for me and actually allows me to have some peace in the morning.
  • Since I now have a break from indoor track, I can finally work on getting a driver's license

The reason why I'm writing all this and then putting it on my blog (y'know, where people are allowed to view whatever they want) is so that I can be held more accountable. It's just there if you know what I mean.

A crazy dream I just had

I don't want to go to college. I don't know why I just realized that, but I don't want to go to college. At least, not under the whims of my parents. It's just all so stressful for me and honestly, I just want to stop pulling my hair out trying to get into a T<whatever> school based on other people's expectations. I just want to enjoy what I'm doing right now, and I know I'm eventually going to get a degree (in computer science or something), but just not right after high school.

But that's not it. For no reason this morning, I searched up the youngest ages of majority in the world. Apparently, in Scotland, the age of majority is sixteen. Which pretty much means, I can buy property there and live alone if I wanted to. You guessed it: that's the crazy dream. I want to be independent and live alone. I want a cozy home where I can... feel home at. My parents' house doesn't feel like that right now. Actually, now that I think about it, it's never felt like it.

Obviously, this is not feasible, but. Imagine being able to live along on a whole different continent! But what if it was possible?

Signing off,

Amanda