Stuff that happened

September involved several trippy experiences*, the first of which was watching 2001: Space Odyssey in full IMAX glory. Cinemas around the world were re-screening it for the film’s 50th anniversary.

I first watched 2001: Space Odyssey back in 2006 and I remember being blown away by the visual effects and cinematography. Even today the film still holds up. By the time we got to the infamous space warp scene I felt like I was in another dimension alongside the main character David.

My second trippy experience was going to Aura at Notre Dame Basilica with my friends visiting from Ottawa. Aura is a beautiful light show by Moment Factory that they do inside Montreal’s infamous Notre Dame church. Check out the video below for a glimpse of what it’s like.

The combination of the visuals and the music made me think about the existence of God and what life was like when God played a huge role in everybody’s lives. I probably sound like a crazy stoner but there’s something spiritual about the show that you can only experience in person. If you haven’t seen Aura yet I highly recommend it!

Finally, I tried a sensory deprivation tank for the first time. I’d heard about these things many times on Joe Rogan’s podcast and was always intrigued by them.

At first I had trouble relaxing my neck as my body would naturally try to keep it above the water. This caused minor neck pains, but eventually I was able to fully relax. I stared into the darkness and – I kid you not – started seeing moving shapes and colours. It was absolutely surreal and I can’t wait to do it again.

*I was not sober for most or all of these experiences.

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At the end of the month, I went on a one week vacation to Florida with Kylea and our friends Oscar and Shane. We spent a day at Universal Studios and a couple of days in Disney World.

It had been about 20 years since I last went to Universal Studios and Disney World, so it was cool to see some of the new additions. I really enjoyed the Simpsons-themed Springfield area. I had a giggle at all the little references, like the “BORT” name tag at the gift shop. The new Harry Potter and Avatar areas were a blast as well.

On one of the days that we didn’t go to an amusement park we rented a car and drove to Cocoa Beach, about an hour drive from our hotel.  It was super friggin’ hot though so I mostly read my book under the shade of the parasol.

On the way home we dropped by an alligator tour at Twister Airboat Rides. We ripped around on an airboat for an hour as the tour guide looked around for alligators.

 It was a bit unnerving knowing that a bunch of these dinosaurs were chilling below us but the tour guide assured us that unlike crocodiles, alligators don’t really mess with you unless provoked. We only saw two gators (it was too hot for them to come out on the land) but it was well worth the $20.

Orlando was a lot of fun. The amusement parks were awesome and it was great to chill for hours on end at the hotel pool. Although next time I’d like to go when it’s cooler and not 38 degrees even at night 😅.

What I worked on

This month I switched to a new project at work. I went knee-deep in a project using React, TypeScript, and GraphQL. I’ll be honest, it’s been really rough learning this new stack; I’d only dabbled with React in the past, and had no experience with TypeScript and GraphQL.

TypeScript in particular has been doing my head in. The syntax and some of the concepts it introduces has been difficult to grok. I totally understand the benefits of using TypeScript though so I want to make sure I become comfortable with it.

I feel really incompetent and slow to pump out Pull Requests, but I have to remind myself that many developers go through this. Instead of getting discouraged, I need to use my situation as motivation for growth.

What I read

This month I decided to switch it up a bit and read some fiction. I read The Girl on the Train, recommended by my friend Evija. The Girl on the Train is a thriller about a woman who stumbles into a missing persons case.

What I found interesting about The Girl on the Train (and bugged me at times) was how unlikeable all of the characters in it were, including the main character Rachel. They kept making poor decisions and were just generally shitty people.

With that said I really enjoyed how the stories were told in first-person and the twist at the end was really cool. I’m looking forward to checking out the film adaptation.

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That’s it for September, take care everyone! 😸