‘5-Bullet Fridays…on a Sunday!’ is a weekly-ish blog post where I highlight 5 things going on in my life. I've adapted this from a friend, who modeled it after Tim Ferriss' 5-Bullet Friday. With each new post, I look to work on my writing, reflect on my current self, and share my knowledge and experiences. And for those of you wondering, I chose Sunday instead of Friday because I personally find it to be the better day for recapping the week!
Hello and welcome! It’s been almost 2 years since I’ve done a 5-Bullet Fridays…on a Sunday!, and honestly, I didn’t think I’d return to writing these until after I wrote my last post.
It’s been a rocky couple of months, but I do want to say first that it’s getting better. Especially the last couple of weeks. And in keeping with that theme, this week’s 5BFS is entitled: The Revival.
What I’ve been watching:
First up: What I’ve been watching. And you might be asking yourself: Hold up, how can you go from talking about ‘revival’ to what you’ve been watching?!
Well, one of the bad habits that stuck with me from my childhood is escaping my own reality and distract myself by diving into other realities— fiction or real. #copingmechanism
So here are the shows/videos I’ve turned to recently:
Demon Slayer is a brilliant new anime series from this season. While out selling coal to the nearby town, Tanjirou’s family gets attacked by demons, leaving them dead in a bloody massacre. His sister, Nezuko, is left alive…or rather seemingly alive. She had been turned into a demon herself, but somehow still holds on to her sibling relationship with Tanjirou. And because of this, Tanjirou takes up a sword and joins the Demon Slayer Corps to slay evil demons and find a way to turn his sister back to human.
Dr. Stone is another fantastic new anime series. It takes a teenage scientific genius, Senkuu, and places him in a world WITHOUT science after he (and the rest of humantiy) gets turned to stone for several millennia. After Senkuu mysteriously breaks free from his petrified state, he’s on a mission to break free the rest of humanity using his knowledge of science, and find out why they were all turned to stone.
Finally, there’s Becki and Chris. And no, this one isn’t an anime. Becki and Chris are a vlogging couple on YouTube that vlog about photography, videography, interior design DIYs, and Chris’s helicoptering —Chris is an interventional radiologist…with a helicopter pilot’s license. Say whaaaat?!
Their channel is fun, inspiring, and filled with so much adventure. I spent a lot of time watching episode after episode exploring what they do and what kind of lives they live. It was a fresh perspective on what else was out there in this world. And to be honest, I needed that — perspective and inspiration.
So because of them, I decided to get back into photography and photo editing in Lightroom. They also helped inspire me to start blogging again — weekly vlogs are definitely not a thing for me.
Which brings us to the next topic…
Photography + Lightroom:
So ironically enough, when I went to update the firmware on my Sony a6000, it ended up failing and now I have a seemingly bricked DSLR. (Yay! /s)
But as I work on troubleshooting the darn thing, I figured there must be a way to at least work on my photo editing — and there is! The subreddit r/EditMyRaw is a place for people to post their RAW photos and let others edit them however they please. This was the perfect chance to work on my photo editing in Lightroom.
This one of the first photos I decided to edit:
When I saw this photo, I immediately went for a grainy/filmy/rainy mood:
And seriously… If your camera has the option to shoot RAW, do it. You can recover so much detail from those under-exposed areas of your photos. This is probably my favorite edit so far:
I plan to keep working in Lightroom with the help of the r/EditMyRaw, but if I get my a6000 up and running, I’m going to try going out to shoot myself! But until then I’ll be using my Pixel 3 and Lightroom mobile and post any edits on this dedicated Instagram account: @thepixelshawn.
Side-note: Interestingly enough, my desktop monitors are bit out-of-date. Rather, they don’t display colors as accurately as other devices…like my phone. So I’ve been using Lightroom CC (mobile) on my Pixel 3 to edit these photos. It’s amazing how almost all the features of Lightroom are available on my phone! Next year, I’ll invest in an IPS or IPS-equivalent monitor so I can edit from my desktop!
1031 Exchange Stress and Frustrations:
Now onto one of the more stressful things that’s been taking up most of my time. My parents own a 20-unit apartment complex in Norwalk with two other partners. One of the partners decided they wanted to cash out, so after a a few months of negotiations, they found a buyer and finally sold the income property.
With our split, we decided to take the money and do a 1031 Exchange — essentially use the money to purchase another income property. But instead of just one, my parents decided to invest into TWO single-homes. And if you’ve ever bought a house, you already know how much paperwork there is already. So imagine going through this process twice…CONCURRENTLY.
So yes, there were a LOT of documents to read through. And my dad, especially, kept mixing up the two properties. <smiley face>
But the worst part was all the arguing between my dad, my mom, and myself. Stress levels were high and my patience was wearing thin as we kept going back and forth on all these negotiations and contract drafts. It also didn’t help that one selling agents just didn’t know what they were talking about half of the time.
Thankfully, house inspections were completed, required repairs are almost finished, and we’re set to close both properties by the end of next week.
Then I’ll finally be able to work on more personal stuff…
Deadmau5, Cube v3, and Me:
Since we’re nearing the end of this 1031 Exchange, I finally allowed myself a night out to just enjoy myself. Not as a rep, a community leader, or event organizer. Just me.
And what better way than with Deadmau5 and his Cube v3.
Honestly, this was one of the best shows I’ve been to in a long time. Just being able to let go and get entranced into the music without having to stress about organizing any meetups or being a point of contact for groups of people.
I got hear some classics tracks like Raise Your Weapon and The Veldt…
And of course the two unreleased tracks that LITERALLY takes you to space…
A bit of backstory: Deadmau5 was the first electronic artist I REALLY started following when I started getting into the genre. When he started livestreaming, I’d pop in just to watch/listen to him create and edit new tracks. Polaris is one of the ‘newer’ tracks I was lucky enough to catch him working on during a livestream. And I was so happy to be able to hear it live twice during his last tour, Cube v2.1.
Honestly, I almost want to go to his show tonight, but I’m being good and restraining myself…maybe…
What’s next?
So what’s next? Well after this week, we’ll have closed on the two houses and be able to prep them for rental.
After that, I’ll finally get back to studying for my Certified Associate Project Management (CAPM) exam. This is something I’ve started doing awhile back, but pushed back due to other work. So it’ll be nice to get back into it and finally pass the exam. I’m even adopting some new study habits that I’ll probably write about later.
My goal is to test by the end of October, where I’ll be able to reward myself with some travel and fun!
Well, we’re finally at the end. Thanks for joining me on this revival of 5-Bullet Friday…on a Sunday! And as much as I enjoyed writing this, the series is also a way to spark conversation with you. So if you liked what you read or want to comment on anything, feel free to message me or comment below.
Cheers, and I’ll see you in the next one!
