Part-time paradise allowed me to produce results.
I was almost back to square one in terms of physical conditioning but once I got back to the hang of things, I was at right about the level when things went south.
I didn't have it in me to do the established routines tit for tat, but I came pretty close!
One-hour bike rides twice a week. Abdominal workouts twice a week. Leg strength workouts every other week. Flexibility... I've not been keeping up with it. But I've got a good thing going!
- Piano:
- I've been playing on average 40 minutes a day. There's days when I play less and I don't even bother practicing half the days I have to work full-time turns but, for the remaining days, I clock in an hour or more. Unfortunately, considering the road trodden in the past year and a half, most of it has been catch-up work, which, as usual, I take at a slow and steady pace.
- RESULTS:
- Recovered ability to play Hanon exercises 1 to 20 in a row at highest tempo. Added to that exercises 21 to 30, also at highest tempo
- I can feel how dexterous my fingers have become!
- No songs, yet
- Not much music theory either...
The objective is to try and make it to exercise 40 in the following quadrimester. There's a bunch of scales in the middle that all account as only one exercise, and there's another exercise that, once I read what I'm supposed to do, leads me to believe it will be the exercise that kills my delusions of virtuosity once and for all. But I thought so as early as exercise 4, so I might have it in me to overcome it.
I also need to improve sight reading and have a long hard look at music theory, but the focus is Hanon right now. If I get to exercise 40, these points will begin to take priority.
- Exercise & health:
- Weekly routines almost completely followed
- Rode bike on average twice a week for a cumulative weekly total of 120 minutes
- Basic flexibility fell along the way
- Kept up with water-drinking habits
- Simple leg workout performed every other week
- Abdominal workouts performed twice a week
- RESULTS:
- BMI goal reached! Again...
- Belly fat lost! Again...
With the loss of my exercise habits during the past half year, I saw the return of fat deposits on my sides. What was saving me from the return of the full muffin top was sticking to 3 meals a day. My BMI didn't rise above 19, which goes to show that in the past year and a half most of my lean mass got replaced. With the end of March this year, I got rid of it, again. My core still has little to no muscle definition, which is extremely frustrating. I'm not asking for a six pack, but to so easily lose muscle is demoralizing.
The next quadrimester will be to focus on building an actual muscular foundation. That is to say, do what I was supposed to do a year and a half ago... I plan on intensifying my ab workout routine and add some arm strength exercises to the mix. I've also decided to focus more on work that helps improve other areas like my posture. More important than beefed up arms is to cultivate a good foundation. Also restart work on wall bridges.
- Japanese learning:
- Anki continues its standard course
- I've been watching anime without subs, but I tend to forget to turn them off about 60% of the time...
- STILL haven't read a single light novel...
- Reading manga RAWS and other documents in japanese
- Correspondence with a certain doujin group in a certain island nation has given me the opportunity to practice communication.
- RESULTS:
- Listening comprehension steadily improving
- Reading comprehension improved
- Communication is still awkward.
Japanese learning is at a crossroads. Again, I notice improvement, but I'm nowhere near the fluency I so desire. When I first wrote about my objectives, I said I'd give Japanese another year or two. That was January 2021. Two years and 4 months later, I have the outside incentives to continue down this path, propelled by tangible improvements in my own skill with the language. For the following quadrimester, seeing as my anki review time is becoming shorter and shorter, I will add Japanese writing to my practicing. I've been reading manga raws and other documents as well, and doing so with close to no need to check dictionaries. I still don't feel like I have a good enough grasp of grammar, so I will be looking into it a little better.
