2016 Resolutions Update - June 30

Even though two out of four resolutions aren't applicable during the summer, I'm still pleased with what I've been able to get done.

In addition to my resolutions and some work for clients, one of the bigger projects that I have been working on is Project Euler. Project Euler is a website containing over 550 mathematical, computational problems which are intended to be solved with computer programs. For the majority of problems, it is imperative to create an efficient algorithm, instead of simply trying to brute-force the answer. Currently, I have solved just over 60 problems, which puts me in the top 4% of all users. Although progress is slow, I enjoy solving these problems and hope to see just how far I can go with this.

Here's the June update for my 2016 resolutions.

1. Start learning Italian - (300 day streak on DuoLingo)
This month I continued to use Anki for vocabulary, and I just hit 120 days on DuoLingo.

Progress is slow - I don't deny that - but I am noticing an improvement in my Italian. I'm starting to become much more confident in the words that I do know, and I am also noticing a definite increase in my vocabulary.

In terms of next steps - I think it's important to continue with DuoLingo and Anki, but I also think I need to do more. Some things I might consider are: listening to videos / podcasts in Italian, buying a novel in Italian and reading through it, and attempting to read the Italian daily news.

2. Keep at least a 10.5 GPA across all courses
On hiatus until September.

3. Write an ebook
I haven't made any physical progress here, but within the past few days I identified some potential topics to write about. The biggest question I need to answer is what the purpose is of this book.

One topic that came to mind was writing about myself - perhaps an autobiography of sorts where I talk about what's going on every few months - but the question is "would anyone read that", and if no, "would I care?" My initial reaction is no and no, and because of that I'm inclined to go a little further with this idea and see where it goes. I think it could be interesting to have a book that I can continually add to, but also be able look back and revisit how things were. I'll do more thinking on this and see where my head is at in another 31 days.

Some other topics are: "Making the transition to university", "Your first year at university", "The Importance of Basic Math", or something related to social media / one specific platform. I think the difference here is that these topics would allow me to potentially sell the book - as of now I simply don't know in which direction I'd like to take this.

4. Spend semesters 2 & 3 at university getting more involved with everything Laurier offers
On hiatus until September.