Subsequent to my resolutions to improve the way in which I live my life, I have implemented a number of changes, and all seems to be going well. If I can keep this up, I’ll be quite well placed come December. Areas of particular focus include:
Sleeping patterns: The main change here is to totally ban having any sort of nap when I get home from work. It’s been a counterproductive habit of mine for years. I tend to stay up ridiculously late, get 2 or 3 hours sleep, endure a day’s tired work and then flop into bed as soon as I get home. Then after a few hours, get up and repeat.
Well, I’m still staying up quite late. But the ban on pre-midnight sleeping is holding, and I’m quite happy with the results so far.
Of course the first day I do not have to get up for work in the morning I intend to adopt my “natural” pattern which is something like bed at 3-4am and rise at 10am.
Diet: I have been trying to eat better, and by that I mean eating better food, more regularly. Hopefully an end to the saturday afternoon realisation that I haven’t eaten anything since friday morning (it happens!). I don’t know why, but I don’t seem particularly bothered by hunger – in fact it often barely registers. Even after not eating for 24 hours or more, I won’t feel all that hungry – certainly not hungry enough to be bothered actually making something to eat. I generally eat when I notice I am feeling quite spaced out and dizzy, and obviously need something to burn.
Well, without actually setting myself a timer, this one comes down to memory. But I believe I’ve improved matters by buying a freezer-ful of various kinds of frozen dinner. They’re usually not too bad, and convenient enough that I will actually eat them. Average about $4 each so it’s probably a good investment.
Work: I’ve been making an effort to work assiduously on my extracurricula projects after working hours, and even inside them. I set up a system allowing me to edit files directly through a web browser, which works well. I’ll make sure to put in a lot of work this weekend, and am setting proper goals for what I want to have finished by when.
This work is mainly on two websites, one of which has been 90% finished for about 6 months. I’ll finish it this weekend for SURE.
Music: Again, I have set myself some concrete goals – mainly teaching myself about certain areas of production I have criminally neglected and are now glaring deficiencies in everything i make. The main offender is percussion and beat. I have neglected this for so long, and been so complacent about it, that I have a lot to catch up on, and the process of reworking 30 or more tracks to replace the hideous drum track I made do with at the time will be arduous. But it needs to be done, and it serves me right anyway for trying to get away with such rubbish for so long.
Language: Since I am planning to move to a foreign country, it might, just might, be a good idea to step up the language-learning efforts. Well, I could go further, but there has been progress. Plans to regularly practise with japanese friends via internet telephony are proceeding well.
When I was teaching English, one strategy for learning I would constantly recommend was the student buying the first Harry Potter book, in english, and forcing themselves to read it. If they didn’t know a word, don’t worry, keep going. Don’t stop for the dictionary unless you see a word again and again. Read it out loud and just keep going.
I’m duplicating this in Japanese now. Bought the first Harry Potter book and am forcing my way through it. Finished the first page today! And, actually, was pleasantly surprised by how much I could actually understand. It will take me a year to read but who cares.
Leisure: Internet use is way down, but it’s been going down for months actually. This month, for the first time, I used less than half of my allocated download allowance for the 30 days. I just can’t be bothered looking for, downloading and storing things I don’t need any more. That’s good.
More as I think of it but on the whole, a satisfactory beginning.
