And we come to the end of an entire year of life-tracking. Wow. This a huge milestone for me- it represents the most amount of thought and reflection I’ve ever put into living, ever.
It kinda overwhelms me a little to realise that twenty or fifty years from now, I’ll be able to look back and say that 2011 was the first year that I spent living mindfully, paying attention- and the first year that I’ll be able to represent clearly with substantial data. I predict that I’m going to look back on it as a huge turning point- because self-deception ceases to be an issue when you are forced to face the facts.
I’ve just started transcribing the data I have from many pages of paper to a relatively more streamlined digital format- still messy and unprocessed, but already a bit of an eye-opener. I’ll share some of this over the next few days- the final plan is to have a full infographic/presentation of sorts of the entire 90 week project after all of this is over. Imagine like a chart that depicts 90 weeks- 630 days- with details like dates with my girlfriend, the days I hit the gym, special events, days when I write/publish articles… it should be an interesting insight into my life that even I don’t have access to yet.
Some random thoughts:
– I’m going to be giving bass/guitar lessons! I’ve been meaning to for so long. Hit me up if you’re interested- e-mail me at visakanv at gmail dot com.
– Hitting the gym once a week is working out great for me. It’s not a particularly impressive routine, but a good routine that you follow is infinitely better than the perfect routine that you don’t. It hits a sweet spot for me- 3 weeks in a row and I could really feel the difference, 4 weeks and I could see it, 5 weeks and it’s starting to be quite awesome. Each of these sessions barely lasts 40 minutes for me- a warmup on the cycling machine until I get my heart rate up from about 115 to 145 (and then back down to 130), and then I do intense full-body weights- alternating between a variation of a kettlebell snatch and a clean->squat->press compound exercise. 3-4 sets are all it takes, and my heart-rate is up to 150 and I’m drenched in sweat. It’s simple, straightforward, predictable and mindless- I don’t think too much about what I’m doing, I just get in there and get it done. Deeply therapeutic.
– I haven’t fallen ill in a rather long time! I’ve had mild throat trouble, but nothing so bad that I’m incapacitated. The most important thing, as I see it, is to be thoroughly hydrated, and to get lots of sleep. I haven’t been getting nearly as much sleep as I ought to, but I’ve got the water bit down pat.
– I still need to learn to sit down and write with focus, without being distracted every couple of minutes. Working on it. I keep wanting to do something epic, when really I should just learn and internalize the wisdom of slow-and-steady.
– I’ve been saving money fairly consistently, and reached a milestone in my savings- following which I kinda let myself go. I didn’t buy any particularly big-ticket purchases (apart from 50 new books at the library book sale, which are always a great long-term investment) and a 2nd-hand laptop from a friend. But I ate out a lot- a couple of meals a day here and there, some fast food, a little indulgence, more cigarettes than usual… and before I know it, I’ve managed to spend, in two weeks, what I usually spend in an entire month. This will not do, so I’ve decided to “punish” myself with an experiment in frugality. It’s not exactly a punishment because I do get to appreciate certain things. I’ve stopped buying cigarettes- I’m not planning to quit or anything, but I’ve only smoked 2 sticks in the past 3 days, and my body is thanking me for it. It feels great.
Full steam ahead. Plans include-
- completing the deadly sins project
- beginning on a sort of local music project
- writing more regularly, especially about Singaporean politics
- more posts on Heroism
- perhaps a few book reviews
- the info from the first 30 weeks…
things are looking fun!