First week of the year was a tough one. It started with some pretty serious bombings from russia aka lack of sleep aka the rest of the week was fucked.
Shoutout to the US Patriot air defense systems that helped Ukrainian soldiers shoot down 10/10 hypersonic missiles that russia has long claimed are "absolutely undownable". There’s a post I’m going to write eventually (hopefully sooner rather than later) about the need for more US assistance and more pushing for US assistance to Ukraine from people within the US itself.
New Year
New Year celebrations were noneexistent. We staid up with my girlfriend literally… just scrolling our phones until midnight and then went to bed. There’s no festive mood to speak of. Part of it is, obviously, the situation. But mostly I think it’s because Christmas in Ukraine got moved to the 25th of December, like the rest of the world (as opposed to Jan 7). So, with Christmas out of the way, it’s kinda officially the end of all winter celebrations. The date is new, but the mindset of "Christmas is the last winter holiday" got moved along with it. 😀
I don’t actually mind. I think focusing on celebrating the New Year is something that became a staple of cullture in many countries that used to be in the USSR. With religious persecution left and right, it made sense that the "main" holiday would be something completely secular. So, shifting focus from New Year to Christmas is all good by me.
FL Studio
[I got myself FL Studio]({{<ref "fl-studio1.md" >}}) and have been noodling around there. So far it’s going really well. No songs to speak of (yet), but I’m enjoying my little sound experiments greatly.
Books
I’m slogging my way through Emma and trying to get back on a daily schedule of reading Infinite Jest. New "[art page]({{<ref "2024-art.md">}}) is up if you want to keep up with the books I’m reading (and the music I’m listening to). I have a feeling there won’t be too many movies that I watch this year. AND I’ll be cutting back on TV in general. I already spend far too much time watching YouTube videos, so I don’t think binging new shows is in the books for at least the first 6 months of 2024.
Work
Work is moving along, but it’s stressful and there are a lot of looming deadlines, which always stresses me out. I’m trying to learn Apple Motion because motion design seems to be a fundamental skill in a lot of marketing teams these days. Some of my old video-editing and voice-over skills from the previous job have come in handy already, but I really need to boost those skills to really show some good results.
We’ve been getting ready for an industry conference for the past couple of weeks and it’s reminded me just how much I hate event planning. Especially when it comes to working with print and getting brochures/postcards/posters printed. So tedious! So many fine details that everyone around seems to miss, even though it’s (supposedly) their job to know how to prepare design files so that they’re ready for print.
But it’s not like it’s all sunshine and rainbows on my end either. As I said — looming deadlines.
Personal Projects
I entered 2024 with the goal of "winding down" activities that aren’t crucial for my survival and "winding up" things that are going to help with that. So, I’ve abandonned my attempt to write a novel (again). That was PROJECT KICK, if you were keeping track.
Now it’s all video production and music in terms of "creative work" and reading in terms of "relaxing hobbies". Hopefully later on in the year I’ll start feeling like I have more energy (as the days get longer) and I’ll be able to add some more to the list (sport/movement being the main thing on the list).
Uh… I think that’s kinda it for this week 😀
Thanks for tuning in!
Toni.