Hello, AN followers! It has been a (long) while since I have posted. For this, I do apologize. The lack of posts is due to a decent number of factors.
First, there has been a lot going on in my personal life which has been occupying much of my time, thus taking from the time I used to have to write. It's not a complaint - just a fact. I've still been studying my Japanese every day, and haven't broken the chain yet (that's good, at least).
Family and friends should always come first over everything, and sometimes we lose sight of this. I know I have. For far too many nights I have sat in front of my computer either writing code, studying Japanese and or navigating Facecult{{1}}. While some of these things are important (such as sticking to learning Japanese), it is important to remember that it is best to take things in small doses. Spending all night every night studying Japanese, while it might make you learn faster (or hinder learning from sleep deprivation),
it's largely unhealthy to do so. It's had an impact on my life
for sure, and I'm doing my best now to return to "normalcy"{{2}}, as it were.
Another thing I have been dabbling with is some Android development, specifically with respect to my (somewhat) newly released
StupidDuck {{3}} game under the
Namorv Softworks studio I've created. Feel free to check out
StupidDuck - it should run on all somewhat-newish Android devices. I made this application for two reasons:
- To fulfill my long-term goal of releasing a game to the public.
- To get a feel for how the mobile app deployment process works from start to finish.
- Because it was fun. (Yes, I know I said two reasons but this one is a bonus.)
Additionally, I have been focusing on sharpening my programming and database skills for a new position that I have accepted at work, so I've needed to reallocate much of my "spare time" to that as well. Transitioning into a new role is always a challenging thing to do when one is comfortable at their current position. That being said, I needed a challenge as the previous position wasn't challenging outside of time management. Any time one feels that they are complacent and/or not challenged in their current job should always be on the lookout for newer, bigger, mor challenging opportunities.
Complacency is one of the most dangerous feelings to have when it comes to your career.
In other news, as it were, I was also at
MegaCon this past weekend. While it was (insanely) crowded, it was a blast! There is a full article coming up on that soon.
Trying to come up with articles to write has been tough during all of this in the past month and a half. I've come up with some ideas, but nothing really solid enough to warrant it being posted. I strive to do my best when publishing articles to push out quality content instead of going for tons of posts all the time with mediocre content. Maybe that isn't the wisest move, or maybe it is. I don't know. All I know is many of the most popular sites out there tend to have lots of content, but not all of which is top notch (though, not to say everything here is all that stellar either). I don't feel the need to do that, and would rather not just toss stuff out there for the sake of... tossing stuff out there.
MegaCon article (with pictures!) coming soon.
[[1]]a.k.a. FaceBook[[1]]
[[2]]Not a made up word, actually. U.S. President Warren G. Harding originally coined it in his election campaign. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_to_normalcy[[2]]
[[3]]Yes, it's a Flappy Bird clone.[[3]]