Now

Updated on March 8, 2026

Santa Cruz, CA. Eating a breakfast burrito.

What am I up to right now? That’s the question you have wondered since you landed on this page, unless you aren’t familiar with /now pages. In such a case, it’s simple. This page is about what I am currently doing in multiple aspects of my self-being. It provides a broader snapshot, a moment in a larger timeframe of my current situation, both physically and mentally, than any updates on my social media.

Thanks to Derek Sivers for bringing up the idea of having a /now page! You can read more about this concept in the following link: this “Now” page.

So, what am I up to?

Life (New Update!)
Travel (New Update!)
Pursuits (New Update!)
Books (New Update!)
Thoughts
Work
Socials

Life (New Update!)

I moved to San Diego, California, on December 1st.
Is it permanent? I don’t know. I know that I like it here. I have some travels plan tho in May, but I will leave most of my stuff at a storage unit here in San Diego. So in May I will go on a month or two road trip, and then potentially will get back to San Diego.
Where are you traveling next? I am planning a road trip to…drum roll… Alaska! I’ve always had this trip in the back of my mind for many years. Now the time has come to make it happen.
Would you be sharing your trip on social media? I am not sure. I’ve been distancing myself from posting on my IG account, although I still consume content from there. I’ve been thinking about using the “travels” category of my blog more to post more frequently about my whereabouts. Maybe I can use IG to casually share stories. I still need to make up my mind in this matter. Meanwhile, I like to enjoy the present moment.

What other things am I doing?

Learning Chinese. Beginner level: 你好！I am gradually learning to write as well and to recognize characters and sounds.
~~Brushing up my French. Once a week, I take an hour or so to learn French.~~ I haven’t been able to keep up practicing French…I need to find a more efficient way to do this.
I met some wonderful people here in San Diego. Two of them were my roommates, with whom I hang out sometimes. With one of them, I play tennis regularly once a week and go to watch some movies at the movie theater. With the other one, I go hiking and get breakfast sometimes. Another person whom I met at the climbing became my climbing partner. Thanks to him, I get to practice lead climbing, and we are planning to start going rock climbing outdoors!
Gradually embracing the barefoot movement and replacing my footwear with ones that are better adapted to my natural foot shape.
Exploring the car camping world and making some initial steps to have my car adapted for it.

Travel (New Update!)

Do I have any future travel plans in the coming months?
Yes…I am planning a road trip to the northwestern part of the US. Alaska! It’s gonna be epic! I am very excited about it.
Am I traveling right now? No. My Alaska trip will start in May.
Where have I been recently? I made a short road trip from Santa Cruz when I was moving to San Diego. So I drove first, a little north east of Santa Cruz to Grass Valley, CA, to meet up with a friend for lunch.

I headed to Reno from there and then south to South Lake Tahoe, where I stayed for a night. It was windy and snowy. Some of the road passes were sketchy and dark. Made it safely to Tahoe. I kept going south on the road of the eastern Sierra of California. Near Mammoth Lake, I spent an afternoon soaking in a natural hot spring. It was beautiful out there, surrounded by snow while being warm in the little pool hole. Stayed for a night.

I made my way to Manzanares to pay a visit to the Japanese Memorial. Then I crossed Death Valley. It was surreal. The dense fog, the landscape, the sand. This was my second time driving through Death Valley, but this time it was a completely different sight because days before, there were intense rainy days when going through that desert. I found another natural hot spring that required crossing a super muddy trail. It was worth every inch of mud.

Got to Joshua Tree, and I spent a night out there. Went for a short hike in the darkness of the night brighten by the reflection of a full moon. The next morning, I headed to Bombay Beach and dug Slab City. I met a few interesting people.

Eventually, I reached San Diego.

Pursuits (New Update!)

Running
Climbing
Yoga/Pilates
Surfing

Running

Last year I had a goal of finishing my first 50km race…unfortunately I got injured and couldn’t make that happen. I got injured in July 2025, and since then, I have been recovering from my runner’s knee. Now, I start feeling that light at the end of the tunnel. I can run 10km at an easy pace without feeling any knee discomfort, so gradually I will start again building up my endurance. However, I don’t clearly see that I can make those 50km this year, to be honest.

Climbing

I got Lead Climb certified a month ago! This is opening a whole new world in the climbing atmosphere. I met a guy with whom I now regularly climb, and we are gonna start rock climbing outdoors. So excited!

Yoga/Pilates

I slowed down on Yoga and Pilates. As a matter of fact, now I don’t even do Pilates anymore. However, I go once or twice a week to Steven’s practice, which is 80% about myofascial release trigger points, and 20% of yoga. That’s perfect for me.

Surfing

I wasn’t surfing much when I first moved to San Diego. Now tho, I found a spot that I like around here, which I go to once a week. I am riding my mid-length board more often. That’s a fun board. Recently, I even got to duck dive that thing!

Books (New Update!)

Currently Reading:

TBD. I have a long list of books to read, and I am deciding which one to pick up next. I have some books in the storage unit, but I was also thinking about reading something about writing, art, or a growth mindset.

Recent Finished:

Next pick:

Not sure yet…

Thoughts

What keeps me awake?

The advancement of AI and its impact on the future of software engineer positions.

How to keep up with the other languages that I know to prevent forgetting them? Here I am talking about Portuguese and French.

Work

I am a software engineer at Flipboard. Check out my LinkedIn page if you are interested in knowing more about my professional career!