Been looking for an apartment to rent when I move back to Tomsk for uni. It's been stressful because I have a really hard time calling up strangers. I've only been this stressed during the exams this year, and they were tough. Still, I managed to find a solid place that I'm going to see this weekend. Doing so grants a certain feeling of confidence - one that can't yet overcome the anxiety but is good for a start.

Found my voice recently. Been practicing speaking for the chest and clearly. So inspired by the success of how that sounds - which is confident and mature - that I may be starting a podcast in place of the Tony Speaks English YouTube series I may have told a few of you about.

Been thinking about optimism and people thinking that the world is bad. I think the reason people think that is that they think very narrowly, only of things that matter to them at the moment. They worry about what they have in mind - like, in my case, looking for an apartment - with missing so much of the rest of their world - like the fact that I'm healthy, young and full of energy, or that I have access to clean water, both hot and cold, every day of every week, or that, wish I to, I can fly to the other side of the damn planet in less than a day. To say nothing of the fact that I have access to like-minded people from all over the world - and even to not-so-like-minded, to keep strives in check.

Now may be bad, but we, as a species, have only been moving forward. The crazes? The future anxiety? They've always been there: we're prone to those - but things are getting better, whether we like to acknowledge that or not. This idea inspires me to go on, like our whole species so far.