The Holidays Edition

The Holidays Edition Featured Image

Welcome to the holidays edition of the update. I wrote this update from my bed at my parents’ house late on Christmas, so forgive me if this is brief. I can’t forget an update! 🙂

Table of Contents

Happy Holidays

It wouldn’t be a proper holiday update if I didn’t wish everyone happy holidays. Personally, I celebrate Christmas despite my lack of religious faith. It seem everyone celebrates it. In fact, I feel that Christmas is (unfortunately) just a part of American culture now. Christmas is so popular that people genuinely fight the “happy holidays” push. The majority certainly hates holiday equality. Sorry Diwali, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Kwanzaa, Lunar New Year, Las Posadas, and many more.

Call me Scrooge, but I feel that Christmas is just a holiday where people buy things they don’t need with money they don’t have. That said, I do love this time of year despite my overwhelming hate for snow and cold. That’s because this season is the only time it’s acceptable to listen to jazz. Of course, it now holds a special meaning to me since I get to spend time with my family. So, I can’t really complain. In fact, this has been one of my favorite Christmas vacations yet. It was less about the presents and more about the quality time. I’ve really enjoyed it.

TEFL Continues

I believe I wrote about this last week, but I wanted to mention that I’ve decided to add two more weeks of TEFL to earn the 200-hour TEFL certificate. With that, I should be able to get a nice starting job as Morgan and I plan to move abroad. I’m hoping to play up my teaching experience at CWRU as well as this website during interviews. Hopefully, the job hunt will be smooth sailing. I know I’m excited for it!

A Look Into 2018

For the first time in my life, I’m honestly pretty anxious. 2018 is going to be a life-changing experience for me. For starters, I’m looking to receive a certificate to teach English as a foreign language. That probably sounds crazy as someone who already put four years into college for engineering and about a year and a half into my first full-time job. The problem is I’m unfulfilled and dreading the day-to-day grind. Maybe I’m just a typical millennial, but that doesn’t seem like the way to live. Everyone talks of these extravagant “careers,” but that concept has never appealed to me. A job is just that, a job. It’s just a means to make money. Never look down on someone because of the type of job they choose to do.

By March, I’ll have probably left my engineering job and gotten married. Hell, I might even be changing my last name. Talk about making some changes. By June, I’ll have embarked on my honeymoon. It’s crazy how fast life moves sometimes. By July, I’ll probably be starting my first TEFL job, or I could be making my way to school for a PhD. Life is crazy.

So, my resolution for 2018 is to be kind to everyone. I don’t want people looking down on me because I’ve decided to step away from a prestigious career for something that will make me happy. I don’t want people questioning my life decisions because I’m not going for the biggest paycheck. In fact, I don’t want people judging me for stepping away from my home country or changing my last name. To be able to deal with all that, I have to practice what I preach, so that’s the plan. Be kind.

Song of the Week

Here’s a Christmas classic:

Coming Soon to The Renegade Coder!

Well, let’s just see what happens for The Renegade Coder in 2018. 🙂

The Legacy Newsletter (56 Articles)—Series Navigation

For a long time, I used to try to write a custom newsletter every week which eventually became every month. If you’re interested in browsing those old posts just to see how this site came to be, I’ve created a small series for you. Check it out!

Today, the regular newsletter is issued via email which you can access by becoming a member of The Renegade Coder. Alternatively, you can subscribe to the newsletterOpens in a new tab. directly through MailChimp.

Jeremy Grifski

Jeremy grew up in a small town where he enjoyed playing soccer and video games, practicing taekwondo, and trading Pokémon cards. Once out of the nest, he pursued a Bachelors in Computer Engineering with a minor in Game Design. After college, he spent about two years writing software for a major engineering company. Then, he earned a master's in Computer Science and Engineering. Today, he pursues a PhD in Engineering Education in order to ultimately land a teaching gig. In his spare time, Jeremy enjoys spending time with his wife, playing Overwatch and Phantasy Star Online 2, practicing trombone, watching Penguins hockey, and traveling the world.

Recent Posts