I Go International (for real this time)

So, this will not be a very long blog post. I will be going to Europe for the first time in my life at the end of this week, and it is safe to say that I am pretty excited. A dream of mine is to travel to every habitable continent at least once in my lifetime, and I can cross the second continent off the list.

I will be travelling to Italy, Croatia, Greece, and Turkey over the next couple of weeks, so you will not see any new blog posts during that time. However, when I come back, I think there will be enough blog content to last the rest of the year. I squeezed as much blog content as I possibly can out of vacations to Mexico and Hawaii, but I think there will be even more to experience in Europe.

I don't really know what to expect when I go to Europe, maybe that everything is smaller and more narrow? I am expecting the food to be amazing, especially in Italy. There will be historic sites, beaches, and pickpockets I presume. The only way to know is if I go and see all of this for myself.

Hopefully I will have much to show on this very blog. Here is to another adventure!

The Cultured Individual

I had a thought, or maybe it was something closer to a fantasy. I imagine somewhere in the future, maybe 50 years from now, and assuming the internet still existed in a similar way to now. I think about someone important, by some random chance, stumbling onto my blog and seeing the posts I have made about 50-60 years ago. I feel like that person in the future will label me as 'one of the great thinkers of our time'. How could that possibly be? I am just one person with one blog in the sea of millions of blogs on the internet. I do not consider myself important, nor would I ever anyone else consider me as important, or even go so far as to call me 'one of the great thinkers of our time'.

My 'Best-Of 2022' Post And General Chatter For 2023

When I was a more active user on Twitter many years ago, at the end of every year, I would write a few tweets about my year-to-date and my hopes for the next year. This continued in a similar fashion with my "best-of" blog posts at the end of the year. It is that time of the year for me to reflect on what went on in my life in 2022, and to think about what 2023 will look like for me as well. I think 2022 was overall a good year for me. It had the highlighted hallmarks for me in a year: the big job changes and the big vacation. There were also other memorable moments for me in 2022 that I have also highlighted in my blog. I will talk about all of that and more on this post.

June 2022 Update

It has been a couple of weeks since I returned home from my trip to Hawaii, and the days immediately since my return have been a whirlwind. I started a new job, and battled an illness (thankfully not COVID-related) but I have been feeling out of sorts. I needed some time to collect myself and heal from the recent events, as well as to recover from the insane jetlag from the trip.

My sleep schedule has been all out of order, and I have been struggling to maintain a consistent sleep schedule. I found myself getting up at 12pm on weekends (probably the jetlag) and being extremely tired when getting up in the morning to go to work two levels down in my basement. The sleep schedule has slowly been getting better but I must force myself to go to bed earlier than usual.

The Hawaii trip itself was amazing, and the trip was well needed considering the pandemic and all that. I got to see many things around the islands of Maui and Oahu, and I am going to start writing the Hawaii blog posts to show you what I saw and experienced. Look out for the blog posts to start showing up on this blog in the coming days and weeks.

So, for now, it is back to reality with a steady work life and hopefully try to enjoy this upcoming summer here in the city.

Changing Jobs (Again) And Trying To Fit In

FYI: Post was written last week, during my last week at my previous job.

I cannot believe that I am going to write another entry in my "Changing Jobs" series of blog posts. So, as of writing this post, I am changing jobs yet again. I will be joining a new company that is offering even more money, with better benefits and increased vacation time. All of that is fantastic, but I want to talk about my time at this current job (at the time of writing) and how I ended up leaving this company after around 20 months of employment.

May 2022 Update

I have been posting nothing but video game reviews for the past while (and not terribly often), so here is a life update.

So, as of writing this post, I am currently between jobs. I left my previous job last week (and you will hear all about it in a future post) and I am going to start my new job at the end of this month. I have a couple of weeks to relax and catch up on things that I did not have time for while I was still working. I'm excited for my new job, as I feel like I am finally going to work in my field for a large company, and the terms of my employment met and even exceeded my expectations. I'm looking forward to starting in my new role and I feel like I am ready for this new challenge.

Before that, I will be travelling to Hawaii in less than a week. I am excited about the trip, and will be meandering around on the islands of Maui and Oahu for the next nine days. Expect a few posts about what I did while I was in Hawaii with lots of pictures. I still have to shop for clothes and pack my suitcase, so maybe I should get on doing that.

I can say that right now, things are going extremely well with minimal stress. This week, I am able to reach out to old friends and I finally have the time to go see them and spend time with them. I do not want to think about any challenges I may have to face in the near future. I am perfectly happy living in the now.

Exciting times ahead!

June 2020 Update

Here is a quick update on what has been going on in my life since my last post.

As you have noticed, I have not posted anything since May 9th, 2021, when I said that I needed to post more content on my blog. I am not one to make excuses, but there has been many things going on.

When Life Leaves You Behind

This is going to be one of those posts where I talk about what is on my mind. I want to talk about some issues. I have not been feeling the best mentally, and I feel that could be due to a number of things.

Cultured Individual's Second-Half Recap of 2020 (And What To Expect For 2021)

My feeling towards 2020. RIP The Legend.

It is that bi-annual time of year again where I look at the posts I have written over the past six months. I was able to go on a mini-vacation, but I wrote about the usual things (such as video games) as well. Here are my highlights from the past six months.

December 2020 Blog Update

With COVID-19 happening and the world going back into lockdown (at least until vaccines are widely distributed), I have not been doing much these days other than working. It has been increasingly difficult to continue posting on the blog every Monday. I have decided to stop with my scheduled posts for now, and just post when I feel like. I also want to use this post to talk about what's been going on in my life and how I am feeling.

Evergreen Brick Works Media Gallery + New Phone!

On one random Saturday, I went to the Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto to walk around and take in some nature within the city. Before I go any further, I want to tell you all that I have a new phone now, and I have been using it for the last couple of months. I am now the owner of a OnePlus 8 Pro, which replaced my previous OnePlus 5T. I like the idea of having flagship-level performance at a lower cost than high-end Samsung and Apple phones. This means that this will be the first post where I will be posting pictures and video from the new OnePlus 8 Pro camera. With all that said, I may go into an in-depth review of my new phone in the near future.

Changing Jobs And Keeping In Touch

As I have recently switched employers in my career, I have wrote about the negative aspects of working at my old company as it pertains to my life and at the current stage of my career. Switching employers is currently looking like a good move for me, but that is not to say that I miss certain things about my old company. I want to talk about the biggest challenge that I am going to face about leaving my old company.

Changing Jobs And Trying To Realize My Value

If anyone has seen some of my posts from late last year and early this year, I talk about my struggles in working at the company I was working for at that time. Around that time, I was working evenings and weekends without any financial compensation and I was suffering from job burnout. Well, I have some good news! At the time of writing this post, I have accepted a new position at a new company and the previous week was my last week at my old company. There is no doubt that I am excited for this new challenge and opportunity. This post is going to sound like I am complaining about my previous job, but honestly; I do not care if this is how the post sounds. During my job search and my subsequent job offer, I have been thinking about why I wanted to leave my current job, as well as what I have learned about myself and what I want to do in my career path.

COVID-19 Update: Travelling (Under Unusual Circumstances)

The year 2020 may be a write-off to many due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but I am determined to try to make the most of it. There has been a significant reduction in daily cases in many provinces due to protective measures taken by various municipal and provincial governments across Canada. If it is unsafe to travel in the United States, then what better thing to do than to see more of the country I live in.

COVID-19 Update: Amplifying The Stagnation

COVID-19 is unfortunately still a thing. Although businesses and other services are slowly starting to open up to the public, there is the risk that opening up things too early will create a second wave of the virus. As the weather is getting warmer for the summer, many people feel anxious and want to enjoy the good weather, even if it means circumventing general social distancing guidelines.

COVID-19 Update: Explaining My Thought Processes

The COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to wreak havoc on what we understand to be modern society. No one has truly been able to enjoy their life the way they want to. As for myself, as I am not able to go anywhere and experience certain things, I feel like my writing has become quite bare. I cannot travel anywhere at this moment, so I cannot write anything in regards to travel. The only things I can write about these days are reviews on video games/TV shows/movies, or about myself. When I write about myself, it will be about either my experiences, or explaining something about what I am doing in the present. When I write about myself, I also try to intertwine my experiences with my feelings to create a complete piece about myself.

COVID-19 Update: Stuck In Quarantine

As of last Tuesday, I have been experiencing symptoms consistent with the COVID-19 virus, such as having a sore throat, dry cough, and a mild fever. I remember being in a couple of specific stores where days previously, there was an employee in each store that tested positive for the virus, and so both stores were closed so that deep cleaning can take place. On that Tuesday when I was first experiencing symptoms was when I found out about one of the stores closing, so I immediately feared the worst. I entered into a 14-day quarantine at home in order to monitor my symptoms. I also let my boss know that I will be working from home indefinitely.

COVID-19 and Self-Isolation

As the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus (also known as the 'coronavirus') continues to spread across the world, health professionals are continuing to urge people to take certain precautions, such as washing your hands, and only going outside your residence for essentials. In addition to these efforts, health professionals are recommending a practice of social distancing in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. In basic terms, do not hang around other people if you do not have to.

My Writing Ideas for 2020

Here we are in 2020. It is a new year (and a new decade), but I am hoping that I can take part in some fun things in this year as I did in 2019. Here are some of my upcoming plans, trips, and ideas I have for 'Cultured Individual' for 2020.

8 Years And Over 25,000 Views Later

Today marks eight years since I started my blog, and I have surpassed 25,000 worldwide page views as well. I am just going to use this post to discuss the changes I have made to the blog since I wrote my previous self-congratulatory post on my four-year blog anniversary, as well as some other things on my mind.