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layersofmatte · 6 years

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Post-vacation Blog

Weather: Rainy and cold (April showers, huh) Coffee Tastes: Good Music: “The Dance of Light and Shade” by Soul Doubt

Not sure why I woke up this morning and thought about using my Tumblr, but here were are. Just got back from a two-week vacation in Australia and had to get a few thoughts down in blog form. I’ve used a physical journal in the past, but I feel like it makes me realize how terrible my handwriting is instead. I would much rather strengthen my typing skillz (2018 and all).

So... what did I want to blog about? Probably start with how I just got back from my first trip overseas and am already falling back into normality. In one sense, it’s comforting to fall back into my old vices (Taco Bell lunch, browsing YouTube, watching anime, playing video games). On the other hand, I think my expectation was that I would come back from AUS with a newfound sense of purpose or direction (or at least a cute overseas girlfriend to talk to). I spent my first day back being somewhat productive (unpacking, cleaning, finish the second BotW DLC... productive) and I woke up waaaay too early this morning so I’m taking advantage of that by having an early breakfast and blog session. I think it would be fun to do this regularly. :)

Back on target. What is next? Since I’m going back to work on Sunday, I would like to take my day off to do something different and start shooting towards some kind of goal. It would probably be better to set small short-time goals and try to achieve them within a reasonable time-frame. Things like: losing some of the extra pounds I put on during vacation (a bit afraid to check), learn a few more complete songs on the piano (I had a chance to play a piano on vacation and realized that I don’t really know many full songs), finish a few games in my backlog (sounds like a silly goal, but having them checked off feels good).

As far as the gym goes, I was doing a great job attending every other day after work. The work gym is always quiet when I leave, so it’s the perfect time to do an hour or so of exercise. Let’s jot down my current weight and comfortable rep limits, then try to excel and see how much weight I can lose each week. Of course, exercise isn’t everything so I should really re-evaluate my diet (but Taco Bell though...). I also think eating breakfast regularly will give me the energy that I’ve been severely lacking by afternoon. Maybe I can share tips and progress with Mark to keep myself motivated.

I had a revelation one day while I was on vacation. I realized that when I’m listening to a good song or a custom playlist I’ve created in Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/user/121944433?si=KBefQ8fWSF6A6VUHuWFaAg), that I like to picture what the live version of each song transition would look like or how I would light each performance. Now that I type that out, it really seems like I should get into stage production, but I’ve always liked the idea of performing piano solo or with percussion accompaniment. Even getting a gig at a cafe/bar sounds like fun. Someday I would like to be good enough to take requests. If I want to make this dream a reality, I’ll need to increase the amount of time I practice piano. Currently, I’ll just plop down and hammer a few bars by ear (taught myself “Evil” by The Flaming Lips this morning). I think the best way to build this skill would be to pick a song each week, learn it, memorize it and play it flawlessly by the end of the week. Then I would move on to another song until I can build a repertoire. I’ll make notes for each song (difficulty, key, etc.) and collect my notes for a future session for friends (start small, then go live).

Playing games is something I do regularly (you could call it work research but that’s stretching it, Matte). Unfortunately, I would say I have about a 30% completion rate with most games. I’ll get invested in one and then something new comes out just a week or so later. Even glancing over to my game library is an intimidating sight (and that doesn’t include my digital game collection). While this goal isn’t quite as healthy as the others (depending on your perspective), I still get a sense of relief and accomplishment from finishing I game I enjoy. Let’s work on that by focusing on a single title each week/day and see if spending a few hours on it makes me still feel that I would like to finish it. I think that’s the other difference is knowing when to accept that I’m just not having fun and should shelf the game. In the past, I’ve used an Excel spreadsheet to document each title and estimated time to complete, so I might start that up again. This time, only list five titles at a time to avoid being overwhelmed.

So that’s it. A post-vacation blog about the things I want to do aside from work. If you squint hard enough, you might notice that “finding romance” is not on there, but I still have mixed feelings about that world. I’ve found that my best relationships have always fallen in my lap, but that’s not the best perspective. Maybe I’ll reconsider by the next time I type up a blog, but for now I just want to focus on the things I enjoy. Having someone here with me to enjoy them or broaden my focus would be helpful, so I’ll be keeping myself aware of any possible opp--this is starting to sound like a job application. Oy vey. Let’s just have fun and take things one day at a time. I don’t have any major plans until June (E3 baby!) so focusing on short-term goals will be perfect. I’ll think more about summer goals later (more gym time = swimsuit confidence). Glad to be back in the blogosphere. Hello, I love you and I’ll see you again soon. Until then, be good to each other.

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layersofmatte · 8 years

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