gemini://moddedbear.xyz/logs/2021-12-10-re-five-questions.gmi

I've never had a go at this before but seems like fun.

> 1. How far in advance do you like to start planning things?

As late as possible usually. Sometimes not at all. One of the first few dates my wife and I went on when we were dating, our only plan was to walk down main street and find something to do. We ended up having a great night finding a decent pho place for dinner and then having a walk around a duck pond.

Plans are useful but can sometimes cause stress and take the fun out of being spontaneous.

> 2. What do you hope happens in 2022?

2022 has a pretty low bar to clear, haha.

Primarily I hope we move on from all the covid nonsense. Not necessarily the virus itself but the pointless bickering, the need to appear superior, the constant cycle of fear and worry.

Along with that, I hope to see a decline in extremism in general. Most people are rational and are willing to build on common ground. That's easy to forget online where extremism drives engagement.

Heavy stuff aside, I also hope VR tech continues to become more accessible and a lot more open. It's not just about it being cool tech, I think it could really have positive effects on society... if done right. I find it hard to believe that lockdown-induced depression would be as bad if we all replaced video calls and messaging with VR meetups for example.

> 3. What challenges have you recently overcome?

Burnout brought on by school. I didn't make any revolutionary changes to get out of it, but I would say one of the things that helped me was being more open about how I was feeling to friends and professors. I made myself more accountable to them which gave me a good reason to push forward even when I didn't have other things driving me.

Sotiris wrote a really helpful response to my earlier post about burnout with some great ideas on how to deal with it and prevent it.

> 4. Seasonal traditions you're most excited about

The gift exchange with family is the most obvious answer. But I'll also have to add getting cozy on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate late at night to catch up on shows. Yeah it's something I do most nights anyway, but something about the hot chocolate suddenly makes it festive for some reason.

> 5. Are you good at directions and maps?

I've always had a naturally good sense of direction, even with unfamiliar places. Not sure why. I sort of just assume it's genetic or how my brain works. I also like to think it might have been all those years of playing 3D video games from a really young age, but that might just be me desperately wanting that to count for something.

Re: Christina's Five Questions for December 2021