sayajay.net

It's almost been exactly one month, since I decided to go on this tirade of attempting to changing myself and my habits. I might have mentioned this in my last blog post, but the frequency of me writing definitely has something to do with creating a new habits.

Usually, I'll begin a blog post, by saying, "It's been a while." But for once, it hasn't been a while. Just a week ago even.

The habit of writing isn't something that I'm used to quite yet. When I was young, I think I can attribute my writing to having an over-active imagine. What I didn't get from real life, I sought from within. I'm putting that premise in front of myself right now, because that'll give me an excuse for me not being particularly creative.

It might also be worth noting to my future self: there are journal entries that publish publicly, and there are those that I would never share with anyone. You should know where they are. If not, then don't sweat it.

Last week, I talked about habits, which are the forefront of my mind this week as well.

Still waking up at 5am.

This has been difficult. I get the requisite 8 hours of sleep almost every night (a veritable 180 from my "previous" life), and I still wake up tired some days. I blame my sleep position, but I'm seriously considering doing some jogging / running.

studying

I have definitely ramped this up, in a few key areas:

• programming study: I'm still taking the data structures course. It is hard for me.
• I've been doing to the daily coding challenges on Hacker Rank. Some days are difficult. Other days are a complete breeze.
• japanese / korean: this still needs improvement. I did break out my Kanji study guide again, which is progress; no progress on Korean, but I'm probably gonna go over a plan involving TTMIK lessons, online courses, and some readers I have lying around.

reading

By far, the area I've improved in the most has been making time to read. Commute times, but also at night, and I feel like I've made really good progress with the books I'm reading. Overall, about 300+ pages in one month, just reading in 15-minutes spurts. It doesn't sound like much to the average reader, but based on my personal record these past few years, that is near 300-page increase.

gaming

I've told myself that I want to get in some more gaming time. I'm not sure if I've done that or not, though I have specific times blocked out for "gaming" time.

My retro set up leaves much to be desired; it's in a spot right now that doesn't feel good for long sessions.

media consumption

I've got a massive backlog of TV shows, anime, and movies that I want to watch. Making time for these things seems kind of odd to some people, partially because some people already have this habit (for better, or worse). That being said, I've been making some decent progress. The things I've started or am currently "consuming":

• Breaking Bad, which I've been meaning to finish for literal years. That and Star Trek: Picard, which is not hard to watch at all!
• Cowboy Bebop. It's OK so far.
• Ikigami (English version). It's also just, "OK" so far.
• Spirited Away: haven't seen that movie in literally 15+ years. It was great.

"personal infrastructure"

This refers to the massive number of websites an domains that I have, which have all been near idle these past few years. Thankfully, I've finally got my blog, and my five minute journal online. it's only a matter of time before my personal webring comes full circle!

side projects

I've been learning frameworks mainly. Took a dip in Firebase, which seems pretty awesome so far. That being said, I did start with my Banh Mi Sandwich Mapper thing. Yes, because I love me some Banh Mi.

other stuff

I have a pile of junk mail that is shrinking. I've keep them, because I've had my identity stolen with them before, so I shred them before throwing out. I used to just throw them into a pile, and it quickly became unwieldy. The pile has shrunk significantly in the past month or so.

As for downsizing: I don't really have a great plan, though I've gotten rid of a thing or two on eBay. This is one area, where I think I should come up with a better plan or system to downsize my physical things.

health and diet

Bleh. So I currently trying out meditating. I think it's working well, though I'm not so good at head. I just need to learn how to keep my head clear, but also how to focus on things. I've discovered the Headspace app, which I want to try out.

I've been keeping to my 10k steps, but the lack of commute definitely hinders my progress. Based on my tracking apps, every 30 minuted walk gets me about 2,500 steps, which basically means that I need to walk for 2 hours a day to get my daily steps in. That's an awful lot of walking.

I've been seriously consdering running: I've found the Zombies Run app, which definitely helps, and I think I'd like to do it super early in the morning when no one is out.

but, seriously, how do you feel?

At the risk of jinxing myself, I feel... good.

Which doesn't make for very exciting or interesting writing, unfortunately.

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In trying to pick a cover photo for this blog post, I didn't really have a relevant photo. So here's a picture of one of my favoritest and cutest Japanese celebrities: Mogami Moga (最上 もが).

Bloop.