weekly post 【2】

[hyperboleriff]

 

I nearly forgot about the weekly post after posting earlier this week.

 

Last week’s formatting was inconsistent since I was still figuring out the rich text editor. But if you look at it on a smaller window, you’ll notice that it totally ignores the margins.

 

I actually copied and pasted the data from my word processor, which is probably why it’s all contained in this stiff formatting brick.

All I have to do is make my tables in the site’s editor instead—which is a little inconvenient, because I’m not very skilled at using the editor yet.

But all things with time. My formatting skills can only improve. On with the logs!

 

Sleep Log

8/21	Monday	2:57–11:00
8/22	Tuesday	3:44–2:07
8/23	Wednesday	4:03–12:49
8/24	Thursday	2:36–12:46
8/25	Friday	4:01–12:46
8/26	Saturday	3:48–11:53
8/27	Sunday	4:25–11:49

I’ve gotten dangerously proficient at silencing my alarm while still half-asleep.

Even though I moved my morning alarm to 11 am instead of 8 am, my alarm isn’t waking up the side of me that’s motivated to get out of bed.

Getting up early right now isn’t super important for me, since I’m still unemployed. But I’m getting worried that I’m getting too used to taking it easy.

This week, my alarm is set for 12 am. I’ve changed my ringtone to a different song that I’ve never had set before.

Let’s hope that next week, I can meet you all with a more consistent column of wake-up times. The formatting will also be different; each row will have a wake-up time and a sleeping time, rather than a range. I think that'll be more organized.

 

Exercise Log

8/21	Monday	Walk
8/22	Tuesday	Walk
8/23	Wednesday	Walk
8/24	Thursday
8/25	Friday	Walk
8/26	Saturday
8/27	Sunday	Walk

Going for a walk regularly has actually been helping me out a lot with my creativity.

When I wrote in college, I would usually come up with my ideas in the shower. Taking a walk is similar but much, much better.

Not only am I free from distractions that aren’t inside my head, but the mood night cultivates is perfect for the stories I want to tell.

I have so many ideas for things I want to write now, and they’re all ideas I want to build upon.

It’s honestly amazing.

Still, I wouldn’t call a 10–20 minute walk strenuous exercise.

A friend of mine recommended some readings on calisthenics and home fitness. I’ll be checking those out at some point next week, and hopefully I can create a small daily routine to build upon as I go.

 

Food Log

8/21	Monday	banana, almond milk	Greek yogurt, blueberries, strawberries	mixed rice, long bean & eggplant in black bean sauce, pork	nectarine, lemon snaps
8/22	Tuesday	poached egg on toast	Greek yogurt, blueberries, strawberries	soy sauce noodles, long bean, yam leaf	lemon snaps, moegino cookie (coconut strawberry)
8/23	Wednesday	banana bread	Greek yogurt, blueberries, strawberries	soy sauce noodles, egg and onions, pork ribs, sautéed spinach with tomato and garlic	ube ice cream, peppermint
8/24	Thursday	9 potstickers, almond milk	Greek yogurt, banana, blueberries	KoKoRo Donburi; rice, oyakodon, egg katsu, curry katsu, takoyaki, wagyu udon	1/8 of a mooncake
8/25	Friday	bagel with cream cheese	mango sorbet, shaved coconut	Mikono's Grill; rice, gyro meat, tri tip steak, chicken, calamari, Greek salad, pita, tzatziki	1/8 of a mooncake, 2 churro bites
8/26	Saturday	banana muffin	Greek yogurt, blueberries, blackberries	Trader Joe's tomato tartlets, smoked salmon canapés	leftover Mikono's, sautéed spinach, pork
8/27	Sunday	bagel with cream cheese	Greek yogurt, blueberries, blackberries, Trader Joe's savory mini pies	wintermelon soup, rice, roast pork, yam leaf	1/8 of a mooncake, churro bite

(I'm testing a new format: three columns for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus a fourth column for snacks and desserts.)

I realize I eat yogurt pretty regularly, almost every day.

And I don’t plan to stop. I like yogurt.

I do add a little bit of granola and shredded coconut usually, as well as a few berries if they’re around.

Quick fruit add-in tier list:

S: Bananas, blueberries

A: Strawberries

B: Blackberries, raspberries

(It’s my blog, so I make the rules, and rule #1 is that this tier list is factually correct.)

Anyway, my dad brought back a box of churro bites from his boss’ retirement party. I’ve been munching on two or three of those every night, as well as slices of mooncake here and there.

I used to be good about not wanting dessert every night. For a short while in college, I even relegated dessert to only the weekends.

But ever since my last term, I’ve just had a craving for sugar that I haven’t been controlling well.

Yet another thing to work on...

 

Activity Log

8/21	Monday	submitted 11 job applications; Arknights; Surging Waves 6, attempted Surging Waves 7
8/22	Tuesday	Genshin; 100% most of Sumeru, explored Fontaine MHR; Garangolm YouTube backlog
8/23	Wednesday	Genshin; Lyney story quest, Heizou hangout talked to a friend about media and a goofy YGO controversy listened to some of Aiobahn's work wrote
8/24	Thursday	Genshin; specter hearts and treasure hoarder insignias Arknights; A Death in Chunfen stages side quests in MHR YouTube livestreams did a quick Cave Crawlers run
8/25	Friday	wrote MHR; Almudron, Goss Harag, Shogun Ceanataur watched Mant (an amazing classic short film)
8/26	Saturday	helped my parents assemble their new exercise bike played Cave Crawlers with sis, died to the Crystal Goliath Genshin; Faruzan hangout, Layla hangout (3/6 endings) YouTube backlog plus Dave the Diver
8/27	Sunday	Genshin; spiral abyss & material farming side quests in MHR joined a Minecraft realm, started a big wheat farm

Last week, I went day-by-day in the activity log, and it ended up being the longest section.

I want to keep it more consistent with the rest of the post, though, so I figured I could try formatting it similarly to the other logs, with a table followed by some commentary.

I submitted a good handful of job applications on Monday. Two in particular really caught my eye:

First, a small print shop looking for someone to do print production. Second, a clay studio looking for a production thrower. Both seem like nice day jobs, and neither ask for too much experience, so I feel confident about the cover letters I wrote for both.

But because I’ve been hopeful about hearing back, I didn’t end up submitting any applications after that day. I’m glad to be fortunate enough to take my time looking for work, but I would still really like to find work soon. I’ll continue searching this week.

 

Other than that, my activities have consisted of mostly video games… unfortunately.

I cleared out some of the side content I’ve let pile up in Genshin Impact.

1. Lyney’s story quest was actually quite nice, having generic NPCs that aren’t boring and using a bit of flower language to good effect.

2. Heizou’s hangout quest, I enjoyed way more than I expected. Funnily, one of my favorite characters and one of my least favorite characters both showed up, at separate times. Somehow, neither felt out of place.

3. Faruzan’s hangout quest featured, again, one of my favorites alongside one of my least favorites. But more importantly, the main route in her quest is actually excellent. I wasn’t expecting much of her, but she honestly left me a bit emotional, especially near the end.

4. Since I haven’t finished Layla’s hangout quest, I’ll reserve my thoughts for next time.

 

In Monster Hunter Rise, my friend and I have hunted Garangolm, Shogun Ceanataur, Almudron, and Goss Harag.

1. Garangolm is very cool as a forest-themed gorilla golem, but it leaves me conflicted because its hitzones feel backwards to me. Its studded, elemental, muscular arms take high damage while its belly takes little damage. To me, the opposite would make more sense, sort of like Rajang if you had to attack its stomach instead of its tail when it became enraged.

2. Shogun Ceanataur is really fun since it swaps out its shell whenever you break it. The nub, however, terrifies me. Why does it look so much like a hot dog?

3. Almudron remains one of my favorite monsters. With the lance, it’s fun and not frustrating at all to fight. Oddly, it didn’t create mud pillars or leap of the ground much during our fight, which is disappointing since those are my favorite moves.

4. Goss Harag is as scary as ever with its damage and lurching follow-ups. Its new move is interestingly deceptive: yanking its ice blade free after it gets stuck in the ground. What was a previously safe opening now involves a bead of sweat...

 

Lastly, I’ve also been trying to clear out my watch later playlist on YouTube. Having a backlog tends to weigh on my mind, even if it doesn’t actually need to be taken care of.

Now that I’m thinking more consciously about the content I’m consuming, I found that I don’t actually want to watch a lot of the videos I bookmark.

In reality, I bookmark a lot of videos that just seem like they would be good background listening.

I removed those videos without even watching them. Finally, I'm starting to learn how to let go of FOMO.

 

Sycee, signing off!

Monday | 8/28/23