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Avatar: The Last Airbender

What an amazing show. Of all the nostalgic cartoons I have from elementary and middle school, I think Avatar and Spongebob are the only two I will continue to watch for years. While Spongebob is simply a feel-good show for me, which helped establish my sense of humor over the years and always puts a smile on my face, Avatar deals with issues more sincerely and deeply, in a way that is accessible to its younger audience.

I decided to rewatch(?) the last season of Avatar over the past week. I’d seen the first two seasons quite a lot growing up, but only managed to catch bits of the final season once when it was on TV originally. Watching it again was quite affecting. It is an emotionally dense show with clear morals, without it being quite as in-your-face as, say, The Clone Wars television show. (That’s also an awesome show, but just has a different feel to it.)

Now that I have dropped myself back into this fantasy world, I discovered The Legend of Korra on Netflix as well. I had never heard of this show before, since it aired after my TV-watching days were at their peak. I’ve started the show, and find it a fantastic sequel, aimed squarely at teenagers (or those just a little older) who appreciate what Avatar has to offer, but want something that handles things more maturely. Its antagonists are less binary: We don’t have a fire-bending dictator, but rather someone who wants to remove bending to promote freedom. It’s a huge shift in focus, but the world has been handed off succinctly and deftly to a new generation of characters (far more effectively than Star Wars managed to do in the sequels.)

For anyone who hasn’t watched Avatar, give it a go. Regardless of age, there is so much joy, frustration, sadness, and excitement to be found in it. While it can be silly, and it is a kids show, there is depth in each short episode that we can pull a lot from.

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Another Change in Scenery

After several months back in Minnesota, I’m finally preparing to head back to California. There is a lot to be said for a change in scenery. It’s become a bit difficult to focus in my current set-up in Minnesota. There are more distractions than I’ve been used to prior, and I no longer have the same desk situation from the past couple of months. I’m looking forward to getting a reset.

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Reading as a Reset

This post is a little late since I was camping this past weekend. A good chunk of my time was spent sitting in a chair (or in a hammock, or on a diving platform in the water) reading some books. While camping for about 3 days, I was able to finish 3 books. Managing to read that much was an excellent starting point for my brain. I felt focused and calm while reading, and was able to ignore my phone (particularly since there’s no service where I was.)

It’s been a rather hectic summer, both at work and in aspects of my personal life. It’s a big change being back in Minnesota for so long. Getting away and finding time to just read was incredibly helpful, and I need to keep in mind that reading is such a simple cure for a lot of mental hubbub that goes on.

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NASA Wallpaper Changer

I like switching up my wallpaper every once in a while. Each device I use has a different wallpaper, and I normally just get it in my head that it’s time for a change.

I decided to go a little further than before when I discovered the NASA APOD Gnome Extension. This downloads NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, and sets it as your wallpaper. It’s a neat utility. There are several others which allow you to use different sources, or which pull from Wikimedia commons, and I’ll likely play around with those. What I like about this APOD extension is that it also gives the description that accompanies the picture.

NASA APOD Wallpaper Changer icon window.

I think changing up a wallpaper can give a fresh look, and a different feel to each day. I’m not sure how much I’ll like it in the long run, and sadly none of the extensions I’ve found are able to require 4K wallpapers, but it’s a fun adjustment to how my computer runs that I’m looking forward to.

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Backpack Search

A while ago, one of the water bottle sleeves in my backpack started to tear. In addition, the nature of my traveling life began to change. I was taking weekend trips to San Francisco, and the occasional long-term trip back to Minnesota (such as I am on now.) Now that I’m armed with a little bit of birthday money, particularly a gift card to REI, I’m on the hunt for a new backpack.

This is actually a tough situation. I’m hesitant to go window shopping right now, and this is the first time I’ve needed to be intentional about purchasing a backpack. Throughout college and the first couple years in my job, having a standard “school” backpack with several large pockets, a laptop compartment, and some smaller organizational areas has been nice. But there’s more to be done now. In particular, I’m less enthused by how many external zippers there are on my current backpack, or how the interior space is split up in a way that is sub-optimal for what I need. There’s a lot to figure out, since this is a world that I’m not very familiar with. But it’s fun to take the time and explore. It’s not a rush purchase, so I can be intentional about it.