A Prolonged Update

It's been (checks notes) just over 225 days since I last updated this website, and I think that's a great milestone to finish the streak at. In this update, I'll review what I've been up to during those 225 days, and what I plan to do in the future to maintain this website properly.

I can't really say I stopped updating the website, because it never really began! After my last update, I continued having a decent, but unproductive summer holiday. I got out of the country for a bit, but by the end of August, I was working hard again. I became more occupied with work, primarily preparation for the TMUA, then olympiads, and then preparation for my interview, until the middle of December. This left me feeling like I had little time for frivolous endeavours, including this website, as I was busy from the time I woke up till the time I got home. This time was, and still is after 17:00, so at this point all I wanted to do was "relax". After my interview, I "locked out" for a while, before starting the new year afresh.

In January, I decided to experiment with my sleep schedule, so I began consistently going to sleep between 21:00 and 22:00, and waking up at about 5:00. I tried to get as much work done as possible in the morning, so I could use the rest of the day for leisure, ideally scheduling what I wanted to do in advance so I wouldn't get distracted. For the time, it meant watching more anime, playing videogames, learning new things, and doing the unthinkable, reading books. It turned out that I'm actually more disciplined and able to work in the morning than I am at other times in the day, so this all became a permanent routine. The first test of this routine was the year's first set of A-Level mock exams, but they didn't disrupt me, and I found that even with less sleep on average, I had become better rested and more active in the day. Here's a contemporary sample of my 'lifeTracker' spreadsheet.

The red date "28/01/2026" was the day I got an offer from Cambridge, and since then, I've primarily been focused on preparing for the Sixth Term Examination Papers (STEP). On a typical free day, I will do a full three hour STEP paper in the morning, mark it, and work on other things like A-Levels, or writing. That takes me to today.

Despite my preparation for various exams, I now have a decent amount of time to spare throughout my week. I've decided one of the things I should be doing, to exert my otherwise unused (except in mathematics I suppose?) creative energy, is working on my website. When I first started the website last year, I didn't actually have all too much to write about, because I wasn't used to thinking or writing very much. When I became distracted, I naturally abandoned the website, but I didn't forget about it.

I've had a [diary / journal], originally written on notepad as plain .txt files, but quickly relocated to Obsidian, since June 2024. Only since the beginning of this year have I managed to write on it every day. I aim to write at least 500 words, about the events of my day, interactions I've had with people, and anything interesting that comes to my mind. I tend to be successful in this goal, and on a heavy day, I'll write between 1500 and 3000 words! This process has made me realise I actually have quite a lot of thoughts and quite a lot to write about now, so the main roadblock preventing me from working on my website appears to be gone.

One potential problem with reviving my site now is the mountain of work that awaits me in the coming months. However, I'm already a decent way up that mountain, and I'll always have that excuse up my sleeve. It's not like my life is going to become less busy over the coming years. I don't see the point in only maintaining a website during holidays, as in some ways those tend to be experience droughts. I'm in a good place to update my website today.

With my increased writing output, I should be able to at least consistently update my website once every week or every other week. This is definitely a "fun side project" rather than my life, but I now have time and desire for a "fun side project" or two, so I'm content going through with this one. I've got a handful of articles and ideas at hand, and I should be able to write a new one at the intervals described. When I'm feeling enthusiastic, I might spontaneously update the website with random thoughts about what I'm doing or experiencing, to keep an open record of my life.

I believe it will be easier to work on my website as I gain more momentum, so the hard part will be delivering the next few updates. My next steps include updating the gaming section, adding some new articles, and making periodic redesigns. I want to add a communication feature or two, and to "steal" a couple features and pages from other websites I've been inspired by. I would like to write more about my studies and personal life, as I've suggested in the article on the Conflation of Real Life and Online Identities.