MARTIN L

Tag: Musing

  • Work from park?

    It’s officially summer (at least from the weather app, which predicts multiple sunny days above 80ºF), and this is a reminder that you can 100% work from a park. In fact, I’m writing this blog post from a park picnic table right now. For most people, parks come from a sense of wanting to connect with nature. We use parks to play tennis, stroll around, shoot hoops, and up until 2024 I would use the swing sets (I now get really nauseous 😔). But why silo public spaces for specific uses?

    Instead of trying to fit nature into specific blocks of time, working from a park provides an invaluable opportunity to immerse yourself into nature. It has been proven by me that spending a day out in a park is 100% better than staying in your room that overheats because it’s on the second floor of your house which is mildly under insulated and to save money on electricity bills you have your thermostat set to 74º even though it’s definitely past 80º in the room (anyone else?)

    Anyways, I hope this post serves as your reminder to get outside and enjoy what life has to offer outside of air conditioning. If this self-described chronic sweater can do it, so can you!

  • On hold with Rogers…

    While I’m on hold with Rogers, I’d like to take this time to reflect on a whole year of writing quips on here!

    I initially started this blog because I chose to make my site a WordPress site. WordPress is probably best known for the fact that it’s used as a blogging site, so I decided to just add a blog onto here. Later on, I realized that I wanted to improve my writing skills as well. I wouldn’t call myself a proficient writer, and my goal was to make my writing more effective. I tend to use a lot of filler words in my every day writing, which really hasn’t changed much after a year of writing. So not sure how effective that has been going!

    This blog was also a great way for me to deep-dive into my interests. One of my first posts was finding out why Muni transfers were free from Daly City BART, and I’ve written more over the year! Please check them out if you haven’t done so.

    Finally, I wanted to use this place to get more real with my friends. You know how people joke about being “closed off” but people don’t really ever ask them questions? In my case, people do ask me questions but I never give straight answers. I wanted to use the blog as a introspective space for my thoughts. Hopefully I was more open! I am really aware though that I have at most two readers, since I don’t advertise this website out to most people.

    That’s all I really have on a whole year of blogging. I did fall off the metaphorical wagon a bit because of the statement of purposes I wrote for graduate school applications, but I am getting back on that horse now that I am re-invigorated and all applications have gotten back to me. Stay tuned for more content (probably all about transit).

  • Apathy is never hot!

    The least interesting people I know are apathetic.

    People need to start sharing more of their opinions! I don’t really understand why in the era of TikTok, where we’re given a microphone to voice our concerns to people that those voices become very low. I’m not saying you need to go as drastic as sharing all of your thoughts on TikTok, but very few people feel even curious enough to learn about things they don’t even know about.

    The way we (society) is choosing to outsource what we’re curious about to an algorithm is frankly very concerning and indicative of our convenience culture. I implore people to take a 20 minute (1 mile) walk around their neighborhood, with just a notepad and a pen. Write down anything that interests you as you walk around and do some research when you get home. Frankly, I want life to be more curious and my hope is that others are curious too.

    The BUffalo Pothole Bandit

    This was something I took a photo of because I was curious about it! I stumbled upon it during my stroll on Elmwood.

    The story of the Buffalo Pothole Bandit started during the pandemic. A man who was enraged with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade (1973) filled a bunch of potholes around Buffalo’s Elmwood Village neighborhood with “F**K SCOTUS” messages. There’s also another story where he just twists his ankle and gets enraged enough to fill it with cement and art.

    What really interests me about this character is his whimsy and his ability to use something as simple as basic wear and tear as an opportunity to make the city a more beautiful place. This is an example of someone who shares his passion with the world, and the world becomes a better place because of it. I’m not a artistic person but I would love to contribute something similar to my community!

  • It’s the end of the year!

    Well no, it’s December 8th as I write this, but 2026 is almost around the corner. This however, is terrifying for a number of reasons:

    1. I am getting older. My stamina is weaker, sometimes I get back pain? No one told me getting older sucked 🙁
    2. I am still pretty young. My aunt and uncle thought I was like two years younger because I still get acne, so is life really that bad?
    3. I am still not living life that much. FOMO? I’ve heard of her and I still have it while simultaneously doing nothing. I stayed at home all day doing stuff and I think cooking and cleaning took up four hours of that. Kinda crazy!

    Overall, 2025 was not a great year for me, but 2026 will be amazing! I can’t say for sure but I will work on that. I also didn’t even go fall hiking this fall, kind of a flop if you ask me.

    This December, I hope to finish my series: MBTA thoughts before I forget them all, but I appreciate you for reading my words on text. If the sentences seem pretty rambly, it’s because I don’t read my paragraphs back and fix sentence structures.

  • Two months later: Embracing the silly life

    Around two months ago, I decided to embrace the silly life by creating silly goals for myself. Today, I am here to provide a update to this article, and reflect on whether or not these goals had an impact on how I live my life.

    For May, I chose goals that were a bit easier to accomplish to ease me in (for example, talking to a stranger, which I do all the time). It was a great way to ease me into this experience as it did remind me to put more of my focus onto searching for these types of experiences. Unfortunately for me, it was also a bit too easy to accomplish these goals, as I finished all of my goals by early May, and the mindset flew out of the window after I no longer needed to look at a list of goals.

    In June, emboldened by May’s progress, I created six goals in a variety of topic areas. These included things like: “Have a picnic with friends” and “Stay off social media for twelve hours”. I only accomplished two out of the six goals this month, mainly due to a very busy schedule that took these goals out of my mind. Overall, I will say that June was not very successful for this reason alone, as I didn’t encompass the silly mindset.

    Lessons

    1. Create goals that don’t depend on other people to accomplish: your goals cannot be contingent on the existence of other people helping you accomplish your goals. The goal of these goals are to embrace creativity
    2. Make it easy, make it hard: your goals should challenge you, but also be approachable in steps. Don’t force yourself to climb up a floor without building the staircase first.
    3. Keep the silly top of mind: It can be hard to embrace the silly energy without prioritizing it. Since it’s a mindset, keeping it in focus by incorporating it into your life is a must.

    Overall, I am still continuing this experiment throughout the summer, and as always, I am inviting y’all to join into the adventure! My goal for July and August is to incorporate this reflection into my life, and get a bit sillier for once!