lately - 20260102

new years, new goals, new semester

well, it's the start of a new year. i don't really have any specific resolutions yet, i just want to make myself more well-rounded as a person.

as for the upcoming semester, i do have a few things i want to do in that time frame outside of academics. it's mostly completing projects i've been meaning to for a long time, and making past ones more visually appealing. i know it sounds kind of vague, but i'll post updates to them here as the year goes on.

a programming goal of mine is to delve more into embedded systems. i think it's a really cool field, especially in relation to audio (oscillators, MIDI controllers, etc). i've had an idea of building a MIDI drumkit for a while now, but since i was lacking in hardware knowledge i had no idea where to start. since joining AES though, i've been able to access a lot more resources related to electronics, microcontrollers, and more. it's the first project i want to complete near the beginning of the semester, since i'll have access to a soldering iron once classes get up and running.

with that being said, course-wise, i'm (most notably) taking penetration testing and, potentially, a DSP class (signals and systems). i'm unsure if i want to take the latter since there's not a lot of hands-on programming from what i'm aware, but maybe im wrong. pen-testing, though, i am pretty excited for. i know that ethical hacking/cybersecurity as a whole requires a lot of knowledge about the OS/other low-level concepts, so i can't wait to get into that. according to the prof, there's a lab basically every single day of class and exams are pretty extensive. i know that sounds scary, but i think i work best in environments where there's a lot to get your hands dirty in.