With the sun setting on 2023, I’ve found myself closing out on a lot of things. My first semester came to a pretty successful wrap up, I closed out of all my alarms during winter break, and I had a blast pressing all the little X’s next to my college essay google doc tabs. But as you know, once you close all those tabs your browser tends to feel a bit empty. In my case, I came across an almost awkward amount of free time. This blog will be a glimpse into what I both reintroduced and introduced into my life.
Reading
I’ve never been much of a reader. My first blog about my first experience reading I think mentioned how I was a discouraged reader. Maybe it shows that I was bored out of my mind, but I ended up enjoying reading. By no means am I any sort of librarian, but I have a few books on the list and I’m pretty excited to dig into some of them. I got physical copies of The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus over the holidays, and a few books on my list include The Alchemist, The Plague, and The Last Lecture. Being able to see what types of books people were recommending on social media and picking them out based on my interests really helped me find the spark in reading I didn’t have before.
Cooking
Cooking has been a big hobby of mine for a few years now. Starting during quarantine, I’d often cook during holidays and school breaks just because school and extracurriculars took up so much of my time. But now, I’ve really been enjoying being able to cook whenever I want and whatever my family wants. Recently, I oven roasted some barbecue beef ribs and they were very clearly a more satisfying creation than any essay I wrote for any college.
Bashi Fen
I grew up playing Chinese card games with my family. 80 points is the one we’ve played on every vacation for years. It goes by an insane amount of names, including Tractor, Double Digging out, Double Upgrade, and more. The game is essentially a glorified game of war, with a dynamically changed heirarchy. Our family plays with four people, two teams of two. My dad and I have been partners for years and even though we constantly get obliterated by my mom and my grandfather, we’ve had our moments. Each game takes us anywhere from 8-9 hours of total playing time and we always have to split it up over a few days, but luckily my dad and I won our last game.
Fortnite
If I’m going to be honest, the time I’ve spent on this one is disproportionately larger than the other three much healthier hobbies I’ve already mentioned. I’m not exactly proud of this, and if anything this is almost self-exposing. But, in embracing my flaws and hopefully embarking on the path to recovery, I’ll acknowledge my near addiction. Even as I’m writing this, it’s felt that this whole free time thing was an excuse for me to just write more about Fortnite. I’ve probably played more games than pages I’ve read, recipes I’ve made, and games of 80 points combined. The crazy thing is, I’m not even that good. It doesn’t even make sense with how many hours I clock in. Some of the kids I’ve played against actually must not go to school unless it’s some kind of Fortnite academy. When lost in the mindless queuing of the next game, the only thing that ties me back to reality is the thought that I’m getting absolutely diced up by some preteen who is likely half my age yet somehow twice as experienced in this game. I’ve always thought that I should try my best in any life endeavor I come across, but this one seems almost like net-loss.
Anyway, I imagine seniors across the country have suddenly seen their schedules freed up after college apps come to a close. This was meant to be a glimpse into what has taken the place of essay-writing. Time marches on without mercy for anyone and recently I cannot say that I’ve made the best use of it. But, hopefully this blog takes on a dual function, reminding me to please stop queuing Fortnite, and that things are best in moderation.
Hi Matthew, I enjoyed reading about things you are interested in doing. I have been trying to find new books to read. Thank you for the book recommendations, I might read The Myth of Sisyphus, since I read your other blog post about Sisyphus. I have also added cooking for my blog about the things I have or want to pick up before senior year. I have been trying to cook all the cultural foods before senior year. Although I think the new thing I will make is oven roasted barbecue. I am not a card game lover although maybe it’s time, Bashi Fen sounds really fun to play. However 8-9 hours of playing time will probably be too much for a beginner like me. It sounds like the game is very competitive and fun. I hadn’t ever gotten into fortnite when it was very popular during middle school although maybe I will play.
Matt, I agree that all of this free time that we’ve gained this semester has honestly been a little overwhelming. For me, with robotics, I haven’t had as much free time as many others, so I feel like the amount of free time I’ve got is pretty similar, but my workload is much less and it’s a weird change. I’ve never been a big reader, but I want to start getting into it as well. I’m glad that you’ve found some books that you’ve enjoyed reading, as I think that it can really improve someone’s lifestyle and shift their mindset. I’ve always wanted to learn how to play fortnite so maybe I’ll pick that up soon.
Hi Matthew, I always look forward to reading your blogs since they always provide me with a laugh. I’m glad all your apps are done and now you have more time to do the things you enjoy. Hopefully, at some point, you can teach me how to play Bashi Fen. I’ve never been that good at card games but I look forward to potentially learning. When it comes to reading, I have to agree that it is something I stopped doing once high school started, but I can start doing it again since my schedule has cleared up as well. I noticed the bulk of your blog was about Fortnite. I know you have strong feelings about the game and at times I agree, it can feel a bit degenerate to play for hours on end, but I like to think we’ve earned it. I hope you’ve enjoyed your well-earned free time and hope you find success with the rest of your decisions.