It's been a busy couple of weeks. Students have been clamoring for every available hour I have to prepare for finals next week. This afternoon was quiet, though, it's the earliest I've ever been able to get off the farm and I don't have students on Fridays or Saturdays. Yeah, I made sure I worked days off into my schedule this term.

There's a bunch of stuff I want to share and talk about. So, this is going to be an Interests & Excitement post! Remember when I did one of those once? Well, it's back.

I'm going to break this into two categories: Personal & Accomplishments, and News & Entertainment. Here we go.

Personal & Accomplishments

I am so happy lately. Here are a few reasons why.

Weekly Goals

Every week I set two goals for myself. I write them up and post them on my wall. This is the first week I met both of my goals. I'm trying to establish a regular sleep schedule, so it's been my goal to be in bed by 10:30 every night for the past couple of months. This is the first time I've been able to do it consistently for a week straight. I also went the whole week and the only piece of junk food I had was a latte today. I want to get in the habit of snacking on healthy alternatives. What should this week's goals be?

Home-made Yumm! bowls

Basmati rice, black beans, spinach, olives, salsa, avocado, pepper jack cheese, and Yumm! sauce.

My dinner many nights is a home-made Yumm! bowl. Cafe Yumm! is amazing and the ingredient that really matters is their Yumm! sauce, which they sell. I switch up the ingredients from time to time. This is a pretty basic bowl. The most unhealthy ingredient is the cheese, and it's just a little sprinkle on top. Very delicious and very filling.

Five-Year Plan

I've put together a game-plan for the next few years of my life. I initially approached the project trying to be very realistic. But I kept running into issues of desire. So, I scrapped the initial attempt. I decided I'd start with my dream plan and then reign it in when I was done. Turns out my dream plan is completely do-able. I need to make some changes and flesh some portions out, then I'll share it. I'd even like to give it its own page here on V&D.

Milk Man

Out at the farm, I've taken over management of our Dairy Share program. Which blows my mind. I'm in charge of a major aspect of the farm. It is very real responsibility, and I'm growing a lot with the experience. As a by-product, I am legitimately a milk-man. That makes me incredibly happy.

Leah

The final update about my personal life has to do with Leah. Her and I have grown so much over the last year. We have entered a wonderful phase of our relationship, and I think this is the happiest we've ever been as a couple. I only grow more proud to stand by her side, though I do it at a distance. What an honor.

News & Entertainment

Some really exciting news has hit recently. I also want to share an artist that deserves tons of success and my review of a summer blockbuster.

Watsky

I met my both my weekly goals, so I got to buy a Watsky album and I get to go see Prometheus tonight. I'm listening to the Watsky album as I write this, and it is just so enjoyable. George Watsky is an incredibly insightful, incisive, and hilarious spoken-word poet and a rapper. He has inspired me to get more serious about my own poetry and to really try to craft poems. My little brother and I are going to see him in concert next month here in Eugene! I'm very excited to watch his career grow.

Prometheus

I've been excited about Prometheus since I saw the TED 2023 promotional short. I quickly learned that it was Ridley Scott revisiting the universe he created in Alien. Since then I have been fascinated by the very engaging promotional campaign. I left to see the movie before I finished this post. Now I'm back and I made a video review, which you can see right up above. Twitter-size review: "Exciting and gripping, with punch after punch of terror. Occasionally the spell was broken by inconsistent characters and unbelievable action."

SpaceX's Dragon

At the end of May the private space transport company SpaceX not only launched a capsule into Earth orbit, they proved the capsule capable of adequate remote control to dock with ISS. So that's what they did! After achieving orbit, SpaceX control and the crew of the ISS put the capsule, dubbed Dragon, through a series of maneuver trials. Then, at 12:02pm EST on May 25th, the Dragon capsule become the first private spacecraft to dock with the Station. This is just the beginning. We have officially entered the era of private space flight. Finally.

Mars One

More news regarding private space ventures. Mars One is an entertainment and exploration cross-over venture. The end result will be a permanent human settlement on Mars by 2023. The aim, though, is to make it a world-wide entertainment spectacle. The inhabitants of Mars One will be recorded, their preparations, training, travel, and then daily lives broadcast back to Earth for the entertainment of everyone left behind.

So, there you have it. Those are the things that have me excited lately or that have captured my interest. What has you excited? Have I shared anything you didn't already know about?