february 2026

2026年3月1日

Memory is falliable. This is a motivation for writing things down and crystalizing thoughts. I want to record unique events and new knowledge I’ve gained. It will be interesting to look back on what has gone on in my life. Things I’ve consumed, things I’ve created and so on.

Here is the first month of trying this. The time period of this post covers 01292026 to 02282026

Events

• I’m living alone for the first time ever, it’s nice in some ways but difficult in others
  • Some big purchases coming out of this… a bit more than I’d like but something something consumption smoothing
  • e.g I visited Ikea and bought some furniture which was fun
• I got running shoes and went through a fitting process at Road Runner Sports. Learned some interesting facts about my feet. Went with the Saucony Ride 19 which has a nice wide toebox. It is the most well-fit running shoe I’ve probably ever used (though for now I have mostly been using it for walking).
• I started journalling to help me capture the small moments that are easy to forget. The system is inspired by reysu from YouTube. I use a two notebook system, an A5 grid Midori notebook and an A6 grid Midori notebook.
• I’ve been going through my backlog of food pictures to update my Beli.
• I played 99 Nights on Roblox with my youngest brother a few times
• I called my grandparents and also messaged my cousin (using Wechat of course)
• I called my other family members some times also, regular calls / FaceTime
• I called some of my friends, doing interview prep, chatting about life
• I discovered the fun of looking at properties on Zillow, just to see what living situtations are like
• I got the Citi Custom Cash credit card: no annual fee and 5% back on top category (I’m using it for restaurants)
• I did Ski gear fitting for the first time (more to come in March recap)

Consumption

Academic

• Kumo + Coinbase Fraud Webinar
• A UChicago webinar on how to think about Statistical Learning in Finance
• Videos on Diffusion LLMS

Media

• All of Culinary Class Wars (S2)
  • Watching Paik Jong-Won judge and eat makes me really want to appreciate food more and enjoy eating food in my life
  • Watching Anh Sung-Jae judge and eat makes me really want to critically think about what I’m eating and really evaluate and try to understand the flavors, fragrance, texture, context, etc.
  • Seeing the chefs so passionate about their craft and work makes me wish I could find something like that in my life
• Jack of All Trades, Party of None
  • I tend to watch some random trashy anime every once in a while, it’s usually an isekai
• Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling
  • Watched first episode of anime (a trashy isekai as you can see)
  • It’s currently releasing this season, so I decided to go to the source because it sounded interesting. Made it through novels 1-7 then dropped it
• King’s Avatar (全职高手)
  • Currently reading the webnovel
  • Was wowed by the donghua many years ago and at some point previously dropped the novel but really want to finish it now
• Blue Lock
  • The only manga I’m actively following
• A bit too much YouTube and Instagram reels…
  • Honestly I think I need to work on my doomscrolling / ultra stimulation / emotional overload escapism tendencies
  • HOWEVER, one series which I thought was less brain-rotty that made me want to think more about interior design and aesthetics was DAWN’s 내던내산!

Music

Some music I listened to during this time.

Food

• I’ve been eating a lot of bagel lox for breakfast.
• I’ve been to Tasty Pot a few too many times, not like fine dining but it’s fast and convenient
• Tried some of of Trader Joe’s Frozen Food items: Butter Chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala, Paneer Tikka Masala, Palak Paneer, Thai Green Curry
• A unique Peach Glazed Salmon dish (with mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables, and a sweet peach glaze.)
• Went to a tasty Korean retaurant which was (mostly) approved by a native Korean
• A surprising amount of Costco food court food.
• A pho place that was really quite budget friendly
• In-n-Out
  • Double double with animal style fries, idk if I’m getting old or something but it was way to salty for me and honestly not sure if can justify the price with inflation
• Ikea Swedish Meatballs

Creation

• I made this website :D
• Mini audio project
• I kind of learned the dance choreo for Exo’s Crown and Ateez’ Adrenaline
• I would like to do more creating than consumption… a goal for March I suppose

Statistics

• I started tracking some things! Bc progress is only easy to tell once data is tracked
• I went to the gym ~15.5 times which is roughly 4 times per week
• My average steps was 8638 in February
  • This is a win bc corporate life is freaking sedentary (which is not good for health)
• My average sleep duration was 7h35m in February with an average sleep score of ~81 over the whole period. I hope to improve this.
• Over the whole month my weight was hovering roughly around 209 lbs
  • I hope it’s because of body recomp, bc I thought my diet and exercise was reasonably in check idk
  • To be sure I think I need to start getting body measuring and more accurately tracking my food

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