# Week 2 > Source: > Published: 2026-06-04 21:03:13+00:00 Hello everyone! It has been a busy week, but I've made some exciting progress on my machine learning journey. Here is what I've been up to: I completed the baseline implementation for the Kaggle Orbit Wars competition and initially hit a score of around 1030. My score has dipped slightly over the past few days, so I am currently brainstorming ways to improve it. This week also marked my very first time using AWS! I used it to extract data for reinforcement learning. Transparency check: I spent exactly $7.58 USD on AWS resources during the process. I spent a lot of time reading research papers this week. The engineering behind AlphaStar is incredible. Two specific concepts really stood out to me: **Pointer Networks** and **V-trace off-policy correction**. I was also impressed by their use of an **LSTM core** to handle long-term memory. Moving forward, I plan to leverage Kaggle, AWS, and GCP credits to train different components of my model. I am giving myself total freedom to experiment, imagine, and test unconventional solutions. *Random life update to close out the week: I used to have long hair because I was insecure about my forehead, but I finally decided to shave it all off at home by myself. It honestly feels really weird right now, but it's a fresh start!*