Well, wouldn’t you know it, we’re just about to approach March. This month flew by unusually fast even for being the shortest month of the year. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but somehow I still am. The passage of time is something that continues to confuse me and it’s scary. Anyway, it’s time to talk about the general happenings of the second month of the year.

It’s still summer where I’m from, and I can’t wait for it to end because holy shit, it’s killing me. You can probably see why it’s my least favorite season, I always find it ridiculously hard to stay cool. Fans don’t help, keeping the windows open does jack shit and we don’t have any kind of AC in the house, so we just have to put up with it until fall comes. And I hate it, because doing any kind of outdoor activity suddenly becomes a real hassle. And even inside it still fucking sucks. I don’t get people who like this season… do you like the feeling of getting cooked alive and sweating your soul out? Because I don’t. Not even one bit.

Mentally, things have at least remained rather stable. I haven’t been feeling too bad and anything that was affecting me weeks ago is no longer an issue, which I’m glad about. I thought I’d be feeling frustrated and that I’d act toxic about it like I did in the past, but I feel like I’ve realized how petty and stupid that would’ve been. I suppose that’s what people call maturing. I’ve been trying not to worry too much about the future and instead I’m trying to live my present, while avoiding those moments where I overthink a tad too much. Then again, with how uneventful these first two months generally are, it’s a bit hard to come up with much of anything to think about.

Work has been going… alright, as usual. This month has been decently busy, with the new Vue related tasks. As I mentioned last month, my duty is to make sure the platform looks nice more than anything, so I’ve been tweaking some things here and there. Now, before my vacation break, I was supposed to upload my changes through a merge request. Problem is, I must’ve clicked the wrong thing because before I knew it, I lost all the progress I made that week. So that was fun… I had to do everything again from scratch in under two hours, which really put me on edge. I don’t think I made it look as good the second time round, but I didn’t care, I just wanted to get it done as soon as possible. In the end my changes were approved and nobody noticed I rushed to redo everything, hehe.

When it comes to health related nonsense, well, I got the blood stuff done earlier this month. The results came out alright, with most things looking normal. I was a bit worried about the liver related stuff since I underwent treatment for it back in 2023, but that was all fine, thank goodness. Some things did come out a bit out of whack, like some type of cholesterol being a bit low and something that has to do with the kidneys. I’ll have to ask the doctor about it next week, just to be safe. I also went to the eye doctor, and my eyesight hasn’t gotten that much worse, but I still need some new glasses with slightly more zoom than my current ones. I have also continued to use my bike, it still needs some repairing here and there though… and my legs still haven’t really gotten used to it. It takes time, for sure.

As far as other events go, well, I got to see my friend at the start of the month and we hung out like we always do, there was so much to catch up on. My cousin had her first child and we went to visit her at the clinic, then we had chicken that entire weekend. And as mentioned, I had my vacation week and so did my mom. I didn’t do a whole lot out of the ordinary, I continued to do my usual urban exploration thing, y’know? I also had to go to my aunt’s house to fix her printer… twice, ugh I hate dealing with printers so much. The second time I went, they even offered me hot dogs, so that was fun.

So that’s pretty much it when it comes to February, in general terms. But of course, it’s time to address what’s coming in just a few days from now…

I have the belief that the year doesn’t truly start in January, but rather, in March. That’s when everyone goes back to work and school where I live, and the first few days of the month are more often than not, very chaotic. Can’t say I missed being surrounded by students, ugh. But yeah, March has never been my favorite month despite the fact it’s when my birthday happens to be. It always felt like a heavy month for me, it’s always so busy and stressful. I hope I can make it out alive, I’m gonna try my best on whatever I have to do. Whether it’s work or just regular house things, I’ll do what I can.

Oh yeah, my birthday… I’m turning 26 already? Huh, who would’ve thought. Turning older in my twenties has been such a weird thing for me, it’s something that really doesn’t feel that special to me anymore. It’s like… great, I’m older today. And there isn’t much to be excited about, besides well, the food obviously (and I demand sushi like always, it’s my tradition dammit). But at the same time, I’ve slowly come to accept that aging is a normal part of life, whether we like it or not. And it doesn’t really scare me as much as it once did, even if the future does seem uncertain at times. Really, like I said before, I want to focus on my present above all else. Getting anxious about the future is not fun at all.

As for what I hope for this year… well, I hope I can meet people online and in person again, as I mentioned in my previous post. And I wish for things to remain relatively stable in my life, watch as I jinx it by saying that lol. I am feeling calm overall, not much worries me at the moment, but I want to be prepared for any obstacles that pop up throughout the year. I also want to continue expanding my collection of things, though I also need to keep an eye on my spending, because I barely had restraint this month.

So all in all, I am feel cautiously optimistic about this year, although I’d still like to keep my expectations in check so as to not feel disappointed later on.

Quite a few things have been added to my collection. Let’s first begin with the electronic gadgets, a whole lot of Samsung this time, so let’s begin with those.

• Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (2012): I already had the 7″ version (in both colors, as I showcased a few months ago), and here’s its larger sibling. It has pretty much the same specs, screen size aside. This one is in good shape with minor scuffs and scratches and it wasn’t super expensive either. As a bonus, it’s the less common 3G version, so that’s cool. Model number GT-P5100, made in China.
• Samsung Galaxy Y (2011): I swear, this phone was practically everywhere back when it came out. It was one of the cheapest smartphones you could get at the time. This one is pink and it required the OS to be reinstalled, but it’s in okay shape, much better than others I’ve seen, which is why I bought it. Model number GT-S5360L, made in China.
• Samsung Admire (2011): Oddly enough, this is an American phone, specifically from MetroPCS. It’s a rather basic Android phone, but admittedly I do like the design and red color of it. It works fine and it’s in pretty good shape, just a few scuffs in spots. I have no idea how these things end up here, it’s even more bizarre considering it uses a network type that was never supported in my country. In any case, this is a really unique addition to my collection. Model number SCH-R720, made in China.
• Samsung Galaxy SL (2011): This was a cheaper version of the original Galaxy S, featuring a Super LCD screen (instead of an AMOLED, as Samsung was facing shortages of those panels at the time) and a slightly less powerful chipset. I had to get three of these to build one that worked, and while it isn’t perfect, I’m content enough with it. I also went ahead and painted the frame gold, cause why not. Model number GT-I9003L, made in China.
• Samsung Monte (2010): A touchscreen feature phone, there isn’t much of note about it. But hey, it has Wi-Fi, so there’s that. It’s in alright shape, though the back cover has a broken clip, so it doesn’t close all the way. Model number GT-S5620L, made in China.

And here’s all the other stuff, three Motorolas, two (Sony) Ericssons and just a single Nokia.

• Motorola MC4597 (2013): This is a bit of an odd one, this is a PDA with a barcode scanner, intended for businesses to keep track of inventories and such, but it also doubles as a phone and it runs Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5. Like that weird business tablet I showed off back in November, it was made by Motorola Solutions. It’s pretty well worn, but in alright shape overall. It does turn on when plugged into USB, but expectedly it needs a battery to boot, which I already ordered from AliExpress. Made in China.
• Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini (2010): As the name suggests, it’s a miniature version of the Xperia X10 with lesser specs, notable for being one of the smallest Android phones ever made. It works fine, although the screen has a few deep scratches that luckily don’t affect functionality. There also exists a version with a physical keyboard, the X10 Mini Pro. Model number E10a, made in Brazil.
• Motorola W375 (2006): The very first Motorola flip phone I’ve added to my collection, they’re surprisingly hard to find around here. This isn’t like the famous RAZR though, this one is far more basic and limited. It works fine, but as is the case with many phones of the time, the rubberized coating was all sticky and gross, so I had to remove it with alcohol. Made in Brazil.
• Motorola Q8 (2006): This was part of a line of Windows Mobile powered smartphones that Motorola made to compete with BlackBerry. This one is in good shape, although I did have to remove the rubberized coating, and the USB port doesn’t seem to work at all. I’m not sure where this one was made, but I assume Brazil since that’s where most Motorola phones of the time were made.
• Nokia 3510i (2002): The 3510 was the direct evolution of the 33xx series of phones, and it notably added support for polyphonic ringtones. The 3510i is an enhanced version of it, with a color screen and support for Java apps and games. This is also a foreign phone, seemingly from Europe, so I have no idea what carrier this is locked to as none of my SIM cards work with it. But it’s in good shape, it was just a bit dusty when I got it. Type RH-9, made in Hungary.
• Ericsson R300LX (2001): The oldest phone I bought this month, it’s not very often I find these old Ericssons. It’s in mostly good shape, but I don’t know if it works as I couldn’t get it to charge, I assume the battery is dead. Interestingly, it has Sony Ericsson branding behind the battery, being that this particular phone was manufactured in 2002, after the formation of said company. Made in Mexico.

You can bet your ass I bought even more toy cars this month, the ducky truck and the Mystery Machine were impluse buys for sure.

The one Beanie Baby I bought this month…

And most importantly of all, this Kirby figure. It wasn’t cheap but I love it, so whatever.

Overall, February went okay all things considered. I have never been a fan of this month, so I’m surprised that it wasn’t all bad after all. I will be glad that March will be a bit of a quieter month in my house now that everyone will be outside during the week, even if things will be inevitably busy. I needed to chill for once, after all the things I went through the last couple weeks during December.

As for what I’ll do going forward, well, I’ll continue to spend time in my hobbies, studying, biking and all the other fun things that I need to keep myself from completely losing my mind. Also, add me on the Switch if you’re interested. And if you want to get your ass kicked on Mario Kart… or well, maybe you could kick mine lol.

This was a shorter post than usual, but again, these months just aren’t super interesting. I want to write a 10 year retrospective on 2016 in the future, talking about how… uh, experimental I was that year. It’s gonna get a bit personal, I’m telling you. Once I motivate myself to do so, that is.

With that said, see you all in the next post.