Lots going on. I've been MIA on my goal of cataloging my thoughts the last year or so. I think part of it is ego. Even though I understand no-one really reads this. I still feel like anything I commit to something semi permanent should be worth reading. I have to remind myself this goal was to help myself think, not to entertain my imaginary readers. I've restarted the workflow I had when I was doing a better job of both writing and journalling.

No promises I'm just going to break, but the goal is to A) write here B) go back to my obsidian journal that was working for daily accountability.

Part of the fall off was getting my dream job last fall. I've been working as a professional penetration tester for the last 8 months or so. Trying to pivot from the steady routine I had as in a Network Operations Center to the life of a cybersecurity consultant with no two weeks being the same has been an adjustment. I thrive in chaos in some capacities, but self care and prioritizing personal growth is not one of them.

I was recently selected to attend a Cyber PhD program that has around a 6% acceptance rate, part of getting back on track here has been a need to really lock down the work flow in my personal life now that I have a pretty good idea how to balance my professional life in my new occupation.

I'm currently working through reinforcing my low level comptuer science skills, revisiting C and Assembly. I'm doing this through two mediums, 1) Heavy Wizardry 101, probably my favorite no starch book to date, and by far the best primary I've ever read on low level programming. 2) I've recently begun the Offsec OSED course. It's very low level, probably the most comptuer science based offensive course I've ever seen.

These are designed to help me hit the ground running when I start the core PhD course work at the end of August.

Wish me luck.

Will write soon.

-Zak