Pissed-Off Optimist

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About Me

About Me

I live in Austin. I typically post photos and personal & work-related updates, especially travel. I offer my opinions on Internet trends and media, talk about TV and movies I watch, share books I read or want to read, rant on right-wing politics, and advocate for inclusion and diversity in all facets of life. I also use this blog as a place to log various activities and media that I enjoy.

Macro

Exiting a Toxic Environment

A reflection on why many desis talk about leaving the U.S. after every political or social crisis and how that pattern mirrors staying too long in a toxic job. Using a personal work experience as an analogy, I try to look at why you shouldn't. Click title to read more 👆🏽

25 Jan

Blogging

Mastodon Posts to a Weekly Archive on My Blog

I built a quiet automation that turns my short-lived Mastodon posts into a weekly blog archive without changing how I post on Mastodon. This post walks through the idea, the technical setup, and what I learned along the way.

22 Jan

Macro

The Silent Deportations

Deportation rates are higher in red states despite less visible ICE activity. Local law enforcement in these states collaborates with ICE, leading to increased deportations and deterring undocumented immigrants from seeking help.

20 Jan

Retrospective

Powered by Solar: 2025

In 2025, our home’s solar panels generated most of the electricity we used—but not all of it. By tracking daily production and consumption throughout the year, this post examines how solar actually performed, where it fell short, and what seasonal patterns reveal about living with solar day to day.

18 Jan

Macro

TV Watching in 2025

15 Jan

Micro

Phoenix Vignettes

14 Jan

Macro

Exploring Taliesin West

13 Jan

All Better Now ★★★★☆

All Better Now ★★★★☆

Very much Pluribus-like but more action-packed. But it explicitly explores the duality of the "good" disease; something that

Mother Mary Comes to Me ★★★★★

Mother Mary Comes to Me ★★★★★

Beautiful, poetic, and brutally candid, as she always is, Arundhati Roy writing only her third book, memoirs her childhood shaped

The Secret of Secrets ★★★☆☆

The Secret of Secrets ★★★☆☆

Dan Brown seems to have lost the art of making you turn the pages and with near 700 pages, this

Missing, Presumed ★★★★☆

Missing, Presumed ★★★★☆

A police procedural with a healthy dose of character building of the cops and their lives. The mystery is interesting

The Rip (2026) ★★★★☆

The Rip (2026) ★★★★☆

The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) ★★★★☆

The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) ★★★★☆

Loved the retelling of Charles Dicken's famed semi-autobiography that unfortunately I have not yet read in original. The

Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) ★★★★½

That Cameron guy knows how to make a blockbuster 🍿

One Battle After Another, 2025 ★★★★★

One Battle After Another, 2025 ★★★★★

Viva la revolución, baby! Chase Infiniti as Willa is phenomenal. I also loved the scene that shows the contrast between

Paatal Lok (2025) Season 2 ★★★★☆

Paatal Lok (2025) Season 2 ★★★★☆

Unforgotten (2015) Season One ★★★★☆

Unforgotten (2015) Season One ★★★★☆

Marcello Hernández: American Boy (2026) ★★★★★

Marcello Hernández: American Boy (2026) ★★★★★

I need more Marcello renditions of white sitcoms.

Varun Grover: Nothing Makes Sense (2026) ★★★★★

Varun Grover: Nothing Makes Sense (2026) ★★★★★