I’ve gotten next to nothing done today, nursing… what do I call this? I’d have to drink to be hungover, which I don’t anymore, but I’m something. I was up way too late for like, three or four days in a row, and I am just so wrecked by it. Whatever, let’s get into it.
Follow-ups: Last week, I stated that I needed to hurry up and enroll in school. I have now done that, which it turns out was super easy online. I now need to go in person to complete it, which should be pretty easy. I may do that tomorrow. I also had those medical appointments, and if I had anything worth saying from them, I’d put it in the health and fitness updates, but I don’t. Things are on track, which I should say, is good news. But it was expected. I didn’t look at much more on game development, because I decided that I need to stay focused on my current projects until they are complete or at least significantly further along. I slapped down that post on some math last week, which was cathartic, and started writing some of those book thoughts. I think that’s about all of the follow-ups? Let’s move on.
Health / Fitness: As stated in the follow-ups, I don’t have anything special to report on health. Stay the course. I was a little lax on fitness, but not terrible. I continue to find that having pumped up my fiber and protein intake, I am actually finding difficult to cram that much food into me. This does add some personal experience to my own growing body of knowledge on just how insidious our modern food system has become, but it’s just fuckin’ nuts how many calories I can stuff in me when it’s all typical American fair, heavy on empty carbs and the least filling fats, when compared to eating just a little more targeted at whole foods. Anyway, I need to start doing more full body, functional exercises, and make sure I’m more consistently getting in my daily walks and stuff.
Academics: Not enough academics last week. I got in some study time on Trig, and it was good. I did make some progress, especially towards grasping concepts. But it’s not enough, and I need to get into some problems and spend a lot more time in them. In fairness, this last week was fairly social, and the end of this week is going to be as well. But I still could have found more time. The same goes for my coding project. My little mobile app is working, I’ve got my dev environment and ecosystem set up, and I’ve got my next steps in the project outlined. I’m also taking my music practice more seriously, but I struggled really hard to find purchase on just what to practice last week. I have a better grasp on that today, but I need to make a plan and execute on it. I should make a list, update my task boards, and get on it. But that’s it, I didn’t spend enough time on anything last week, so this week I need to spend some real time on Trig, coding my app, and practicing that guitar.
I DID get in some really good reading, including finishing a couple of books. I also got in a fair bit of side research on some other ongoing projects, though that time would have been better spent on the main subjects. I also got in a smidge of soldering practice, which was great. However, under the guise of needing to be precise, I found the convenient excuse of “oh, I should get some tweezers” to keep me from finishing that project. Well, I guess it wasn’t a total wash of a week, it was maybe even alright. But I still need to get more done this week.
Social Life: Alright, I’m going to have a specific social section today, because it’s worth mentioning. Probably not next week, but we’ll see. I think I’ve mentioned before that I wanted to start thinking of my social problems as being skills that I’ve neglected, which I think is quite true, and that I need to start working at improving them. I’ve been doing that, and I think it’s been paying off. I complained a bit last week, which I don’t feel great about because it highlighted the wrong parts of the whole week, that I had some missteps. I disagree with Past Aaron – I think I did pretty well at that party. Not flawless, and I do still think I sorta cornered that woman a little, which invited others to do the same and prolong the situation… but not as bad as I was worried, maybe not bad at all. I’m definitely thinking about it too much, but also, it was super rad to get a bunch of laughs out of her, and some were real good ones. But timing on grabbing and keeping someone’s attention is something I can be more mindful going forward. Otherwise, I think I was engaging with everyone pretty well, and I was maybe even a little bit charming. Besides, I didn’t mention all of the other practice I got, and I got a bunch!
In fact, over the past few months, I’ve made it a point to attend as many social functions as I physically can (adjusting for my social burn out). Each time, I’ve pushed myself to avoid finding a corner for myself to wilt into, and instead tried to engage in some conversation with someone new to me or that I haven’t chatted with in a while. I still need work on these skills, but I’m getting better. I’m looking at the extremely socially intimidating situation of going back to school in my 40s and feeling pretty anxious about all of it, but things are improving. I am still worried about being the old guy and also starting to get worried that I’ll be loud and too much. But I’m less worried that I’ll stick out like a sore thumb and be immediately shunned for daring to be an old guy at a young person’s thing. The practice is helping. The only way to do it is to do it, right?
My niece is going to have a party for her graduation on Friday, and it’s like… somewhere with a name? And I think there’s going to be a band? I need to figure out what kind of an event this is so I can be a smidge more appropriately dressed. Not that I did poorly at the graduation ceremony, my polo and chinos outfit was fine. But it would have been appropriate to wear a sport coat or blazer, which is something I never get the chance to do. I could use a bit of practice there, too.
Next Time: I’ll have to report back on just what I actually get done this week. Today was a real wash, so I’ve gotta step things up. I should make a specific thing to report back on, let’s see… Okay, at the end of this week, I’ll have finished the in person portion of the school enrollment. I need to make some progress on my Precalc study and work on my app, but I’m not really sure what that should be. On the app, I should comfortably be done with my V1 stretch and get started on adding the next set of features. I need to feel more comfortable with these early sections of Trig, so let’s find time to do 20 problems on it, yeah? I need to practice guitar, so let’s say a minimum of 60 minutes, something like 3 sessions of 20 minutes (or however I get it in), and at least 5 cardio sessions and 3 strength training sessions. Finally, I need to get my baseline plan reset for the current plans, so let’s have a basic plan scratched out and setup something on my whiteboard.
Okay, there we go. And now I’m going to fuck off for the night. Until next time, y’all.