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What was the most fulfilling thing you did this month?
As a respite from all the bad news floating around the internet, let's have some wholesome discussion! Whether it's major and minor, what was the best or most fulfilling thing you did this month?
Went to see a judge (well, magistrate in truth).
July 3, 2019 I officially adopted my son (29) and daughter (25). The magistrate approved the adoptions.
I had never thought that adults could be adopted. I've been in my kids life for 22 years and married their mom (and them as part of the wedding ceremony) just over 20 years ago. Their bio would never approved and likely will flip out if he ever finds out. But he hasn't even talked or texted them for near over ten years, so I doubt he'll find out.
Ten years ago they surprised me with court approval paperwork for them changing their last name to mine.
Three of the happiest moments of my life. Humbling and such an honor at the same time.
Pushed and got all the necessary stuff done for a transgender man at one of my jobs to be recognised as a man, enabling him to finally make the move on a professional level. I started in May and have slowly been fixing all the stupid things the previous administration had done, but this was without a doubt the most satisfying one.
It's one person only, but it was the most satisfying thing so far in July.
Second place was correcting a dreadful spelling mistake in an official document the company has been using for almost 15 years. Grammar OCD was extremely pleased.
If you made one person's life better, that's still an achievement worth celebrating. And this is an important improvement: you've made his life immensely easier. Good for you!
I published my third ever scientific paper, which is the second paper where I am the first author. It took almost a year to prepare it, but the positive response from the referees and coauthors made it worthwhile. I am really proud of it! Now I am terrified and excited for the response from the scientific community in my field, but it is time to focus on the next paper and my thesis.
Nice! Care to share any details on the subject/topic?
Honestly? It sounds a bit cheesy. But...
I did some work on the Tildes wiki this morning (mostly related to my "how to" guide). This was a big chunk of structural/organisational work (creating pages, splitting sections, arranging content) which I have wanted to do for a while, but haven't been able to make time for. But I was able to sit down and get it done today. And I feel very satisfied at finally having done it.
It's honestly the most fulfilling thing I've done this month. Nothing else has given me the same sense of satisfaction as finally being able to do a chunk of work which I enjoyed doing, and haven't been able to get to for a while - and achieving a goal I set for myself.
Sure, I've done some work on my online course over the past month, including submitting some assessments and getting "satisfactory" grades (there are only two grades: "satisfactory" or "not yet satisfactory"), but that has also involved dealing with annoying bureaucracy and stupid requirements. Anyway, the work itself hasn't been very challenging so far. I don't really feel a sense of accomplishment at passing a test about something that I first learned over 30 years ago (the course will get more advanced in later stages, and will teach me things I don't already know, but the early stages are covering stuff I've known since high school).
So, working on Tildes has been my most fulfilling experience this month. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
Heh, some people noticed your efforts on the Discord last night when a giant wall of like 40 wiki changelog notifications popped up over the course of a few hours. :P
Have you looked into technical writing? You can make some decent money with contract work (or become a full-time technical writer for a company like I did) and much of the work is similar to what you're doing already on the Tildes wiki. You could even include the work you've done/are doing for Tildes in your portfolio!
I used to work as a Business Analyst. I've written my fair share of user manuals and guidelines and such things.
As for contract work... after the roller-coaster ride I had a few years back, I want a job that's stable and reliable and boring - which is exactly what I've had for the past two years, and I'm holding onto it as tightly as I can. (And there are other issues I'm not going to discuss here.)
But thanks for the suggestion anyway.
I finally started working on my app idea. I've been talking about making apps before I knew how to code, and now I have finally started making it. It's terrifying, but also exhilarating. I know I am going to make some costly mistakes along the way, but I am adamant not to quit.
Can you share anything about the app idea? If you don't want to/can't, that's totally understandable... I was just curious. In any case, good luck! :)
p.s. This might help you prevent making some of those costly mistakes you mentioned:
How To Build An App: Everything You Didn't Know You Needed To Know | Tom Scott
Thanks for the resource. I am trying to create a chat app with some new features that I haven't really seen in other apps. I am little hesitant to share, but it will come out sooner or later.
No worries, the mobile app market is cutthroat and competitive as hell, so playing with your hand close to your chest is understandable. I take it you're going to go the proprietary software route rather than opensource, if that's the case though?
I am going the proprietary route.
Will anyone want yet another proprietary siloed messaging app?
It's not just a siloed messaging app. I can't really get into it without revealing the idea. But thank you for raising the point. I understand it's an uphill battle fighting against the network effects that apps like FB, WhatsApp, and iMessage have.
I started college. It's just a prerequisite and online, but I wanted to ease into something I thought would be easy to boost my confidence. And it is easy! And it's exciting! I'm 50 and I got my G.E.D. when I was 28. I dropped out in 7th grade (though I graduated 8th grade due to age). I had done college courses after I got my G.E.D., but life got in the way of me completing any sort of degree. I start full time in the fall, and I am scared, and excited, and happy, and scared, and stuff!
I took out a loan through my CU to buy a car a few days ago, now I just need to pick it up at the dealership. Not as big of a deal as some stuff on here, but I have/had a paralyzing phobia of both finances and bureaucracies, so anything bank-related has been a special hell for me. Getting a loan was a big step for me in that I learned to (read: I was forced to) deal with those fears head-on and push through it.
I moved into my new office at work (thanks to a promotion) and got to decorate and hang all my certifications, diplomas, etc. on the walls. My wife and son went with me last Saturday to do all that.
Went to Japan for 2 weeks! Tokyo, 5 nights -> Izu-Kogen, 1 night -> Takayama, 2 nights -> Kanazawa, 2 nights -> Hiroshima, 2 nights -> Kyoto, 4 nights. It had been a long time since I went traveling in a proper way like this so it was a mostly amazing time :)
I rediscovered my love for exercise. I have been riding my bike almost every morning the past half month. I absolutely love the fresh air and the wind in my face. Also re-applying to college.
I upgraded a pubnix from Debian 9 to Debian 10, and only took a short outage with imap. Users are happy.
Logged more miles this month by bike than I have logged over the past 4 years.
Cleared my honey-do list.
Past week was a pretty good week.
assessed my situation.