Missing This Desk Back When I Was In My Final Year Of University

2025, week 1 (dec 30th - jan 5th) ✨

for this year, I felt inspired to take a page out of @lostlibrariangirl's book and try weekly posts! I like the idea of collecting little moments throughout the week & reflecting on them at the end.

this week was very strange and kind of difficult, tbh. I blame new year's day falling in the middle of the week - my routine-loving brain did not have a good time haha. I was also struggling to get some work projects done. I find that some projects flow really well, and others seem to drag on forever and make me question my purpose, but I suppose it all balances out in the end. I'm hoping that things will feel more normal next week, now that all the holidays are over. swinging between feeling super exhausted and super motivated is not fun :(

one of the things that I did this week was fill out a goals page in my 2025 planner! I wrote down a lot, but I think they're all achievable, and it's okay if I don't get everything! it'll still be nice to look back at the end of the year and see what I've done. there are some cybersecurity courses that I want to work through, and I want to properly get back into language learning this year, but I wrote down some fun goals, too! here is a small selection of what I want to try and do in 2025:

complete the TCM Practical Malware Analysis and Triage course

read a book in Spanish

reach 50 birds on my life list (this is a totally arbitrary number, but that's like 1-2 new birds per month which I think I can do if I really try) (a subgoal of this is trying to spot an american woodcock bc their range technically overlaps with where I live and they are so goofy looking. I want to see one of them doing that funky lil dance in person so bad)

mend at least 1 item of clothing

get a technician amateur radio license (everyone on my dad's side of the family is licensed, and I think it would be a fun hobby to get into as a combo of learning the science behind radio & also learning to help with communications from a disaster preparedness perspective)

I think 2025 is going to be a year where I have to keep reminding myself that I can do anything, but not everything. I also want to make it a year of reaching out and forging connections with people in my community & online friends. the world feels like a very heavy place more days than not, but we can get through it together.

some highlights from this week:

drinking lots of tea

settling into my 2025 planner

getting back into language learning with clozemaster & busuu

outlining & starting the first draft of a fic that's taken over my brain the past few weeks lol

finishing two projects at work so I can start fresh next week

tuesday | april 15

lots of biochem going on this term – if i'm not working through a paper for my seminar class, i've got gels to annotate or protocols to study.

SDS-PAGE from a protein purification i did in last week's lab – not 100% pure, but i'm happy with the yield. personally i would have used more resin (that flowthrough is just begging to be repurified) but it wasn't my call.

Celebrating international day of women and girls in STEM because in 2025 there are still men who will say to other men behind your back that you only got certain opportunities because you're a girl and/or because of your looks and/or because other men are attracted to you

being a stem major with high love for humanities feels like being in a business marriage with a rich high class wife and having a constant affair with a dark academia mistress

February 27, 2025 • Thursday

--- 30 days of productivity • COLLAB CHALLENGE WITH @studaxy • Day 20/30 ---

💛 Axy's study time: 0h

💙 Iris's study time: 4h

[Axy's sleep time was like 17h lol but in their defense they were sick and terribly sleep deprived]

Made some IT notes. I'm not drastically lagging behind on that subject anymore :)

🎧 On the Run — Glass Animals

For those of you who weren’t able to get 100% of the total solar eclipse today… I gotchu <3

Autistic brain really is like, "you have to overexplain so there is absolutely zero chance for misinterpretation"

Jan 21, 2025 - Tuesday

Trying a new setup! Actually I’ve been trying to build a setup that I liked for the past few months and I think I’m finally getting somewhere! I brought my hourglass from home and it’s already making it feel a bit more like ‘me’

The older you get, the more you choose calmness over drama and distance over disrespect. You prioritize your peace, mental health, and happiness — over everything.