New Year's Resolutions for 2017

Too early for this? Nah, I don't think so.

1. Finally buy my Google Pixel phone, in the really really blue. I've been using Matt's cracked iPhone 5 for way too long. The Pokemon Go app on this phone can't even load anymore.
2. Pre-Hackbright goals: 
• Finish Learn Python the Hard Way
• Redo Codecademy's Python track as it's been way too long since I revisited it
• Redo Codecademy's Javascript track
• Complete the "More Python" series in LPTHW when released
• Learn basics of Git
• Complete Codecademy's Git track
• Git tutorial from the PyLadies Meetup
• Complete Codecademy's Command Line track Accomplished 1.22.2017!
3. Vacations to conquer
• Austin food pilgrimage
4. Get something nice for display/use at my parents' new apartment
5. See these DJs:
• Gryffin again
• See Illenium  Crush 2017--thanks boyfriend!
• See Elephante, hopefully for free as I've missed his 3 free shows in 2016 birthday present! thanks boyfriend!
6. Finish all the scarves I've had yarn for for the past few years
7. Skype my parents at least twice a month
8. Try 10 new recipes (see what I've experimented with so far!)
• 5 Min Scallion Fat Noodle: http://ladyandpups.com/2014/09/29/5-min-scallion-fat-noodle/
• Wahlie Kitchen's Sweet & Sour Chicken: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXBN4jFMqDk
• Banana Pancakes
• Creole Salmon
• Roasted Cauliflower (served with hummus!)
• Shanghai Cai Fan
9. Learn how to open a bottle of wine with a bottle opener. I've been relying on friends who can do this in 10s too much - well that was easy thanks to the Boof.
10. Run at least once per week
11. Run a 5k
12. Watch a live comedy show
13. Attend a hackathon
14. Get a new hairstyle/haircut
15. Establish a skincare routine
16. Get a job post-Hackbright in 2017!

HACKBRIGHT BOUND - APRIL 2017!

Words cannot describe how ecstatic and in disbelief I am that I got into Hackbright, merely TWO days after submitting my virtual interview.

Funny thing is, they emailed me the night of Dec. 20th, but my phone had died while I was at a National Sangria Day event at Spark Social SF, celebrating the last night before my workplace closes for the holidays and reuniting with old friends...too busy to even think to check my email until the next morning. I could have been celebrating for one more thing, but I guess this was a sign that this news warrants a separate celebration on its own!

The next morning, in a slight hungover haze, I had to do a double take at my phone screen while on my NX commute to work to make sure I read the Hackbright admissions email correctly. I was speechless for a minute and could only cling to my boyfriend, managing to utter the words, "I...got...in!"

I was trying to hold back tears of joy and shriek in the least conspicuous way from 19th Ave all the way to Bush/Montgomery. Finally I had to resort to binkying (rabbit speak, see GIF below) embarrassingly all over the streets of FiDi after getting off the bus to fully be able to express how I felt.

I still cannot believe that I have finally come to this moment--a moment I've been waiting for since discovering Hackbright back in May 2015. By the time I start the fellowship, it will have been two years since this dream first took hold of me.

AHHHH!! Best holiday gift ever, ever, ever!

Here's to hoping for a Hackbright future

So I kind of suck at this consistent-blogging thing, but it's also interesting to see how much has changed since my last post. Since my last post, I've moved from Codecademy tracks onto Learn Python the Hard Way exercises, which have been really interesting because I'm not being "babied" by the all-in-one coding platform on Codecademy.

I've had to learn how to get really familiar with Terminal commands and using Atom. Being instructed type out and understand every single line of code as shown in the LPTHW exercises has also been strangely refreshing, albeit somewhat tedious at times.

Oh, and also, since my last post, I've finally managed to submit my application to Hackbright. I admittedly spent about five times the amount of time on the first part of the application (work history, my interest in Hackbright, and the expertise "essay") than on the coding challenge, which required some careful thought process but wasn't bad at all. It took me a few hours to complete the coding challenge. 

Two weeks after I submitted my application, I got invited to do a virtual interview through the Kira Talent platform. I was ecstatic but also nervous, because having done a ton of research on their interview process, I knew this was completely new and different. I completed the interview yesterday, but I hesitate to write more just yet before I hear anything...if at all.

Fingers crossed!