A good audio setup is something I deeply appreciate. Currently, I enjoy listening to music with the Hifiman Sundara, Sennheiser HD600, and E-MU Teak. To drive my headphones and produce better sound, the Monoprice Monolith THX 887 sits on my desk with the Topping E30 on top of it.
Improvising/composing music (piano is my instrument of choice) can be really cathartic. I’m fortunate enough to have perfect pitch.
Gaming helps me relax and reminds me that there is value in simply being. Metroidvanias, platformers, RPGs, roguelikes, and strategy games are among my favorite genres.
Meditation heals the mind. My practice tends to be off and on, but I hope to improve that.
Taking time to improve, learn, and cultivate awareness is my lifeblood. That said, I find it important to remind myself from time to time that imperfection and setbacks are an immutable part of the human condition. Striving to be perfect is a form of self-sabotage.
Psychology has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve observed people because there’s a lesson embedded in every interaction. Additionally, psychology in tandem with mindfulness helps me remember that even those most distant from my convictions are human and worthy of kindness.
Writing is another pastime I hold dear. In particular, I like to teach through writing. I yearn to share my knowledge with others, and teaching is one of the best ways to learn.
Applying philosophy’s teachings can be useful, though discussing it at length here would be putting Descartes before the horse.
Of course, tech captivates me as well. Computers are the most patient teachers a student could ask for.
To be clear: this isn’t a laundry list of expectations. In my experience, superfluous expectations create distance,1 whereas intimacy manifests when you embrace a person as they are. In addition, exclusively looking for those that match a set of criteria can lead to discarding what’s right in front of you, like a packet filter with a misconfigured ruleset.
That said, humans recognize and seek patterns. People with some of these characteristics seem to endear themselves to me quickly.
That isn’t to say that one should abandon the concept of boundaries altogether. Boundaries are healthy and represent you communicating what you need to another person. There’s a difference between advocating for yourself and domineering someone. ↩