This year has been more about getting back to "normal". I've haven't put in a lot of effort with personal projects. In fact I have rebelled completely. I've put in more effort into other hobbies and just trying to have down time because I've been so busy at work.

It seems like Covid is more under control and we've been opening stuff back up. We don't have to wear masks at work. I got the vaccine - the two-shot Pfizer one. I think that's another reason why I have given up on personal projects for now - been getting out of the house and doing stuff.

Initial Goals and How I'm Doing

  1. I want to explore and learn more of Svelte.js and maybe some other framework stuff. I've derailed from this a bit out of frustration. Just focusing on JavaScript and not getting much into frameworks right now. I've scaled back some.

  2. I would like to possibly transfer my St. Louis photos project into an Express/Node project. I've really derailed on this. I just don't have the time or the will for this right now. Before I do anything with this I would need to make a database and get all the images done and there are so many that it's daunting.

  3. In VS Code I want to use more shortcuts and code snippets to speed up productivity. I do use the find and replace a bit more and searches are getting smarter. I'm still not doing great with this.

  4. Level up my Javascript skills. I'm getting better and better. I've done more using JavaScript. I recently made a quiz that automatically scrolls to next question and then generates an answer based on what answer you chose the most (A, B, or C). I've done a good amount of stuff with JavaScript so far this year.

  5. Play more with transitions and animations for UI On my own I haven't but I have been doing more with making more smooth transitions and some simple animation stuff with SVG

Other Things Done

Honestly, I haven't been working much on personal projects. I have done some stuff with customizing maps with the Google Maps API. Then I have done little "proof of concept: stuff on my CodePen.

I'm planning on trying out learning more .NET. Specifically figuring out how to use it, how to use Visual Basic so I can be more empowered to fix small issues from clients or when I'm building out UIs. Plus, I want to know how all is working under-the-hood.

Assessment

From my comments on my initial goals, it seems like I would give myself a failing grade. I've scaled back on a lot of my goals. However, I can't beat myself up about it. There are going to be ebbs and flows. I need to give myself space so I don't burn out.

That all said, I've decided to focus on learning things that are more specific to work stuff which is why I'm preparing to dive into .NET and Visual Basic and maybe some server management stuff. Then try to deal better with DNN modules like getting better with the Visualizer and Form and List. In addition, keep leveling up with JavaScript.