2021 December
Christmas
I spent Christmas Day with Bec’s family, and then went down to Melbourne for a Boxing Day dinner. We had a great meal with a two tasty salads, a turkey, ham, crab, oysters and a range of other foods.
Boxing Day sales
Did anyone get any good deals from Boxing Day sales? I bought a $1,000 mattress topper called an Ooler. It pumps cold water through the mattress at night to keep you cold. I think it’s pretty good, but I’m not sure how much it’s really improving my sleep.
AI applications
If you recall last month I had been rejected from one research program, and had applied to another research program. I was also rejected from the other research program! However I have been accepted into an AI “fellowship” where I’ll basically be working on my own thing, alongside other people looking to get into the area of AI safety. I’ll be working on applying to more things. (Maybe I can apply to a fellowship which will help me apply to fellowships where I can apply for things!).
I was also accepted into a AI Safety Fundamental program, where we’ll be studying about AI and how to use it. Hopefully that is useful!
And if there’s any jobs – AI related, data science related, or just generally maths-y – which you think I might enjoy, please feel free to suggest it to me!
New years resolutions!
Have you made any new years resolutions? I have a few: I want to learn Chinese (I’m having ~weekly conversations with a native speaker; flash cards daily), I want to lose weight (I’m trying to hit 10,000 steps daily; tracking my food; and trying to do pull ups), and scope out new job opportunities (see above!).
What I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Hearing:
- King’s Avatar (TV show, Netflix) – as I’ve been trying to get into Chinese, I’ve been watching TV shows in Chinese. This one is about a professional gamer who gets kicked out of his team because they want him to become a celebrity and he wants to remain anonymous. So he goes across the road to an internet cafe and forms his own team.
- ChinesePod (podcast, Spotify) – 15-20 minute episodes with a short Chinese dialogue, and then some explanation and translation in a mixture of English and Chinese. At different levels (beginner, pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate, etc.). I find I’m around pre-intermediate to intermediate.
- Chinese Cooking Demystified (Youtube channel) – I never learned to cook Chinese food, and now I can, via Youtube! This is a husband-wife duo, their episodes are suitably short and to the point, and they include recipes in the descriptions.
- What Colour is your Parachute (book) – This is a famous book about how to find a good job for you. I remember I read it back in 2015 when I was desperately trying to find a job. I had positive memories of it, but upon re-reading it I actually don’t think it’s very useful. It focuses too much on finding a job which is a perfect fit for your unique traits. Especially when you’re quite junior you don’t have that many valuable unique traits! Some of the advice in the first few chapters about how to job search and apply are helpful though.