Weekly update |
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Learning how to code

It’s been so long since my last post and that is because as I mentioned a few posts back, I’m getting into coding. I didn’t expect to be having this much fun with it. That, along with learning French and finally getting a job, is the main reason I’ve been unable to get to writing a post.

So why am I learning to code again? Right now, I’m learning HTML, moving onto CSS now, and after that, JavaScript, so I can code my own websites. I’m also interested in possibly making apps in the future. This website you’re on right now is made from a WordPress theme, since I knew nothing about those languages when I was making it, so I was very avoidant of solutions to do with coding. I’m still at level 0 pretty much, but if I continue learning then I might even be able to improve this site in the future. šŸ˜€

Interestingly, what’s helped me the most with learning code is learning languages, or more so knowing how to learn. Common advice I saw when I first started researching how to code was “learn how to learn.” It’s not that languages and coding languages are the exact same, though there is definitely coding advice that applies to language learning advice and vice versa, but through studying French I’d already discovered my learning style. I know what to learn first, how long to study it for, good memorisation exercises, whether to start with a course or jump right into a project and learn what I need as I go, etc.

When I made my first video game, I was still a noob at both language learning and coding. So even though I’d followed along with a whole 7 hour Unity tutorial, yes I was able to make a game (well, more like Google and coding forums were able to make a game), but today I can barely type one line of C# fluently. It’s luckily the opposite with HTML. I can create at least a simple website without having to look anything up, like how I can talk about my day in French without looking up translations. If you’re interested in hearing some of my methods to achieve this, stay tuned because I might make a post about it in the future! The most amazing feeling is when you come across a problem in your code, after you’ve acquired the building blocks for a language, and you’re able to mix things together and use what you’ve learnt to find the solution yourself, even if it’s far from the most efficient one.

Anyway, as for everything else, it’s been a while since I deliberately went out to take photos with my camera. I can’t really use the excuse that it’s been “winter” either, because “winter” for Perth is basically just summer but 5 degrees lower, with the occasional grey or rainy day. But I’ve still kind of been acting like it’s winter, and so has Astro, my cat, who’s fluffing and fattening up, and also getting darker (fun fact: Siamese “change colours” depending on the temperature!) Unfortunately, he was a bit sick and injured recently. But we took him to the vet and he’s feeling & looking way better now.

Since my brother is getting into writing stories, I offered some time ago to draw pictures to go along with one of his projects, and so now, everytime he finishes a new chapter or scene, I get on to drawing it. This has been really fun, and I’m glad that those two years of learning how to draw has paid off. I just wish I had taken it less seriously. I feel like I could have reached this level in a much shorter amount of time and in a less torturous way. Seeing his stories has also made me wonder whether I should start writing again as well. I’m exploring a concept right now, so we’ll see how that goes!

As I mentioned, the job search seems to be over. I say “seems to” because I still haven’t got my first shift yet, but I am technically employed, so that’s nice!

Overall, I’ve been having a great time recently. This post doesn’t cover everything, I was away for a LONG time. I really enjoyed writing about Astro, so expect to see more posts like that in the future. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you soon! Bye!

Savannah

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Review |
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All about Astro

Hi everyone! I’m pretty busy recently so I’ve decided to write an easy post. This time, itā€™s about my cat Astro, AKA Big Boy, and about the Siamese breed in general. I just thought Iā€™d share some of his infinite cuteness with the website.

As an introduction: Astro is Siamese, half seal-point, half chocolate point. Heā€™s more oriental-looking than the applehead Siamese, but I heard he was bred to be more bulky, so he doesnā€™t have the health problems oriental shorthair cats can sometimes get. We got him in December 2021 but he was born that year on the 29th of September, which means heā€™s currently two years old.

Heā€™s an extremely active boy and his favourite thing to play with is his ā€œchickenā€, which is literally just a rubber chicken tied to the cord which fell out from the pants I used to wear. He loves to chase and jump after itā€¦ he also likes to chew it so every once in a while we need to replace the chicken with a fresh one like we did yesterday.

Astro is always on high-alert. Though he’s cuddly, heā€™s often in the mood to play, meaning if I make one tiny move towards him heā€™ll bolt away. He loves scaring himself. Once I chase him into another room, he finds a hiding spot that I sometimes canā€™t find and other times can, but I always pretend not to notice him. As soon as he hears me walking out of the room, he comes out of his hiding spot, hits the back of my foot with his paws and then runs out in front of me, like heā€™s teasing me for not finding him!

Siamese are very smart, one of the smartest cat breeds of all time. Even within the very first days of having him, when he was a little kitten, heā€™d already learnt how to play fetch with his rubber chicken.

He likes plotting ways to get onto high places, namely the roof. It’s his first task whenever we move house. He can get down by himself but he prefers crying at us to help him down because he knows weā€™ll eventually get sick of it and force him down by shaking a treats packet. Though, in previous houses, we used to lift up random items like chairs and blocks for him to jump on and be lowered onto the ground. But heā€™d get treats after that as well.

In the morning at around 8-9 a.m. he meows for me at my door. Once I let him in, he gets really fluffy, not in the intimidating way, and walks around in circles, kind of shrinking into himself like a slinky or caterpillar. During this time he rubs his head on my legs, sometimes licks me, and jumps up on my shoulder while I get everything ready for the day, itā€™s just the cutest thing ever. Once, I carried him to the lounge room to play, but I had to get a drink of water first. I put him down and started walking to my room to get my water bottle and he ran after me, and tried multiple times to jump at my face like he was saying, ā€œWhere are you going? COME BACK NOW!!!ā€ Thatā€™s another thing he does: watch out when he locks eyes with you, because this means heā€™s about to jump at you, which is more terrifying than you can imagine. Iā€™m pretty sure he loves scaring us and hearing our reactions. He hates you looking at him from high places like this:

Overall, I LOVE Siamese cats. As long as you have enough time on your hands, theyā€™re an incredible breed, best temperament, and of course stunning appearance. They need at least twenty minutes of play every day but they reward you with a lot of snuggling and being cute in every situation. They do need to be trained to go to sleep at night and not wake you up early, but this means you need to wear them out during the day. Having a favourite toy helps a lot. I do wish we had got him another Siamese to play with while we still lived near his breeder, so if youā€™re thinking of getting one, get two! Once you have one cat, itā€™s barely any different to have another.

That concludes this post! See you soon!

Savannah

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Weekly update |
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Thoughts, planes, and marathons

Iā€™m back! A little later than I hoped, but I think itā€™s been worth it, because I have a lot to talk about.

For a while now, Iā€™ve considered making YouTube videos. I always loved to make them when I was younger. It seems fun to get back into them, but every time I sit down to record, I get caught up in the aesthetics, the concept, what I should say, what the theme should be, and it quickly loses the appeal. I have succeeded once recently. I filmed the video, edited it, and uploaded it. But… that was three months ago and it’s unlisted now. It used to come so much more naturally, that I’m starting to think it’s probably just an outdated dream. I donā€™t want to be rich or famous because that comes with a lot of stress and all I really want is peace and a trip to Europe. A life like that isnā€™t any less full than one where you have like five businesses, live in a mansion and have a legacy to be remembered for all eternity. But people always use that as the example of “dreaming big”, which I tried doing for two years before eventually realizing I never like the idea of doing that stuff, I just liked the idea of liking it. Hopefully that makes sense. So yeah, to follow up on my last post, it definitely pays to go day by day. Thatā€™s not to say Iā€™ve quit having goals, at least not shorter term ones, but worrying about them isnā€™t helping. Iā€™ve just started thinking about learning a programming language to further explore web development. Iā€™ve made a whole video game-before and I loved the coding aspect and the problem solving that comes with it, so it seems perfect. Iā€™ll let you know how it goes if I continue down that path!

We live five minutes from the airport, so every Friday morning-evening, heaps of planes come flying right over our house! It makes me so excited to imagine where theyā€™re going or where theyā€™ve come from. I almost never got to see planes for 7 years, because we were living in a rural Australian town 3 hours from the city. Now they’re so close, that I applied for a job at a fast food place in the airport.

I had to decide between customer service in retail/fast food restaurants, administration in small businesses, or going the work experience route. Honestly, part of my reason for wanting to do the latter two options was because I was trying to avoid/postpone the inevitable interview process, because Iā€™ve never done one before (for my first job at a medical clinic, all I had to do was accept the offer since my dad worked there already) and the thought of it makes me nervous. But now when that thought comes up I just say ā€œLol yeah thatā€™ll be easyā€ and instantly the nervousness dissolves. Iā€™ve started doing it with other things and nothing seems hard or overwhelming anymore. When I was 11 I went through a phase where all I did was scroll through minecraftforum.net and apply for staff on Minecraft servers.

I made a billion different resumes, filled out applications, took multiple interviews (even live voice ones), I was never stressed about it. I just thought it was so cool to be Admin or Moderator or Helper. I even tried to make my own server quite a few times times, designed entire websites for them, so I could be the one hiring people. Now Iā€™m out here trying to get a job in real life, realizing itā€™s not actually that different, and seeing it in that way has made the process so much more fun.

A little update: expect to see new photos in the gallery around the end of each month, because that’s when I clear my camera’s SD card.

The 2024 Paris Olympics started a few days ago. Me and my mom watched the opening ceremony (not live because we would have had to get up at 2 a.m. or something) and I rate it a 7.5/10. Many cringe bits, not a fan of the dancing, the *weird* historical bits, or the “fashion”, but I liked the Assassinā€™s Creed-looking guy parkouring on the rooftops and the more subtle references to French culture and history.

The actual games have been fun to watch as well. So far, Iā€™ve been most impressed with skateboarding, mountain biking, gymnastics, BMX cycling and equestrianism because the horses are so cute. I canā€™t wait when the marathons come on. Recently we – me, my mom and my brother – have been going down to a nearby netball court and timing ourselves running around this one square. Today we went down again, and I got a personal best! Not only that, I can see progress in my style and endurance. My chest doesnā€™t hurt anymore and my calves arenā€™t aching (weā€™ll see about that tomorrow morning though).

Sorry this got so long. Thanks for reading! See you again soon.

Savannah

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Weekly update |
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A boring week

One of my goals for a long time now has been to get a part time job so I can buy things with my own money. The three major purchases Iā€™ve made so far, paid for using at least most of the money I got from my first (temporary) job, were my camera, an art book, and hosting for this very website.

Photography is a hobby I picked up fairly recently, and Iā€™ve been loving it, I take my camera with me everywhere and it enhances every experience I have outside. It made me actually like going out, as someone who used to find it pointless and boring. But now that it’s winter (Australian winter, as in grey skies, rain, and a little bit of sun), there aren’t as many nice things to take pictures of, and I haven’t been out much, at least anywhere further than walking distance.

Since turning 16, I was set on starting work before 2025, but due to busyness, some off experiences, and maybe a little bit of pickiness, that hasn’t happened yet. It has been creating some stress for me for a while now, so I think I have a decision to make between continuing to worry about the future or see what I can do day by day. Iā€™ll update when that decision has been made and why!

It has now been a week since I published this site, without any new blog posts. I’m still trying to get a feel for what I want to do with it, what kind of style my blog posts should be in, how frequently to post them, and what topics they should cover, or which photos are worthy to add to my gallery, or even what my ā€œabout meā€ will be. So the site, especially this blog, will probably be a mess for a while until I get the hang of everything.

Today, Iā€™m getting a new desk, and a thick rug to replace my thin purple one, since the house weā€™ve just moved into doesnā€™t have carpets. Having a real place to work other than my bed will hopefully motivate me to do stuff. The main problem is figuring out what that ā€œstuffā€ is going to be. Right now, my comfort task seems to be learning French. Weā€™re going to Paris in a few months, so I want to reach at least an intermediate level before then. I may make a separate post on how Iā€™m doing that. 

Overall, nothing too exciting physically has been happening in the past few days, unless weā€™re talking about this big boy who is ALWAYS active:

I should make a separate post for him as well. But this is getting pretty long already, and I don’t want to reveal everything all in one post. So Iā€™ll see you in the next one, which hopefully wonā€™t be a week apart. See you soon!

Savannah

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Uncategorized |

My first blog post

Hello! This blog post is the last thing I need to do before publishing this website! I’m really happy with the way it looks even though I know it’ll probably change in the future. It’s only taken me only around 10 days to complete, but of course I had already planned out the design beforehand so I knew exactly what I had to do.

See you on the live site!

Savannah

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