El-mom

Hmm... Actually, I've been thinking of an extended blog of sorts, but I'm reserving that for after finals (late January/ early February) because I don't celebrate the year's end on Jan. 1 (I celebrate on Jan. 14 - and I have DSA finals then lol). But okay, here's a spoiler of sorts (note, this is more of an overview of what it could look like; these excerpts might not make it):

I was looking through my journal entries a while back, and I found this excerpt from Jan. 14, 2025: "Lowkey, I feel like this'll be the year when I'll RUN. And run I will. I can't wait." Ahh... sweet sweet old me, what if I told you, you were the slowest you've been in a very long while? And that, actually, was the best decision. And what if I told you, you had very, very few wins (namely, only two) and a massive list of failures and losses? And those killed you inside at times, but, despite that, you found yourself enough at the end.

This year was the year I learned to truly appreciate the beauty of small pockets of happiness, to take absolute joy in those 10 minutes at 5 PM where I'm on the couch after a long day with a warm cup of tea, the bittersweet moments when you have to depart ways from a dear friend with whom you've not had enough time with, spending a solid 10 minutes staring at the absolute richness of a beautiful art or photography piece, and the absolute peace of finding yourself good enough, even though you just failed disastrously yesterday in a way that just wasn't possible, even though you're a week after a major deadline, even though you didn't uphold your values as much as you did yesterday, and even though, yes, death is a reality that you've not considered as deeply as you've done before.

Anyhow, if there's a specific part of my growth or anything so far you want me to cover and dig deeper on, do let me know through this.

Introducing Totals 1.2.026 🎉 We wanted to end the year with a bang, so we packed this update with some seriously powerful features to help you close out the year strong. What’s new: Smart Budgeting Track and Set spending limits and get notified when you’re getting close,no more surprise overspending. Multiple Profiles Easily separate different use cases like personal and work. Automatic Transaction Categorization Totals now learns from your history and automatically categorizes transactions for you. Financial Insights. Further Analysis on your finances like spending stability , projections, unusual activity detection and more... New Tools Tab 🛠 Accounts – Save bank details of friends and family for quick copy & paste during transactions Verify Payment – Confirm whether a received transaction is correct (powered by verify.leul.et) And this is just the beginning,more tools are coming soon to the Totals ecosystem. Oh, and of course… we couldn’t let you end the year without your Totals Wrapped website

Bchas, I'm getting back to Chess. Dump resources, YouTube channels, tips, anything I should know in the comments or in the DMs.

A Shaper friend of mine is stepping into the role of editor-in-chief of LinkUp magazine and she wants your input for LinkUp's work moving on. The survey won't take more than 5 minutes, do fill it :))

Lord, I pray for the ability to think and write like this. She ATE this and left the plate shaking, my God. Link: Abiyot

"I just wanna drive!" An animation short based on a song that was with me through my ups and downs this year. Senayt the duck pilot cruising through the purple skies in her trademark aircraft "The Cloud Moses" in hopes of seeing a better tomorrow @unc_kingdom

I am once again asking for your support. If anyone could hook me up with past exam resources, let me know. Right now, I'm looking for Advanced Database (Database II), but let me know if you can hook me up for computer science courses in general. DM @not_eldana

Something to check out: Link

Urban Finds Bazaar returns this December with curated vendors, handcrafted pieces, and small-batch creations you won’t find anywhere else. Dec 13–14 | Saturday & Sunday | 10 AM–7 PM Step in, explore, and leave with something that feels uniquely yours. 🛍️✨ #UrbanFinds #LocallyMadeGloballyInspired

Hmm... On environments I had a conversation with one of my friends a very long time ago. Back then, we were in this program that as learners, we were above average at. The conversation went something like this: Person 1: "You know, I'm thinking, we're in a very good place here. As in, we're not being challenged you know... I think we might need to find a better place where the people around us are more competitive." Person 2: "Yes, but why don't you strive to be the best here in the first place? Why the need to reach ahead?" That conversation, in a way, stuck with me. Everytime I found myself comfortable in a good place, I told myself "how can I say that if I'm not the best here?". I was thinking about that today and the quote that's like "if you're the best in the room, you're in the wrong room" came to mind. But I can't help but think that should be rephrased as "if you're above the average person in the room, you're in the wrong room". I think the "you have to be the best here to advance" thing might be one of the wrongest opinions I believed for a while, I don't think advancement works that way. I think, to really advance, you have to be in rooms where what you bring is dirt shit and the only thing you can do is try to catch up. This whole thought process happened within the 20 min walk I took earlier, what do you think tho?

@channel_unwrapped_bot by @DOT_Ruth :))

Check this out eski. (Hmm... to side-quest the AU summit or not to side-quest the AU summit?)

Localhost 2 • https://t.me/addlist/sZ8D9Jvimcs3ZDhk These are really lovely and creative channels that I regularly checkup on. They're amazing and entertaining do check'em out. #Channels @Dagmawi_Babi

This thing had been so helpful in the TC Chat, I can't wait to set it up on the other groups I'm in. GO CHECK IT OUT!!!

Telegram Creators • https://t.me/addlist/WtH8uKu1A4E4ODY0 Gathered all the channels of the Telegram Creators into one folder. Join all in one click and enjoy some of the best channels on Telegram. #Channels @Dagmawi_Babi

Hmm... So as an experiment, if I create the "lock-in" group which is a community where you'll send what's on your checklist every morning (or whenever you want to start) and update progress throughout the day (or the time you want to finish things by), would you join and commit?

Shapers dancing for a cause this weekend. If you want to support our work, join us on Saturday night at Creative Hub. (Note: This event is invitation only. If you're interested, reach out to me at @not_eldana) Link