I recently returned home after the end of my spring semester. It’s surprising how life just feels different when I’m at home with family– almost like a bubble. I’d like to get myself back into a daily-ish routine of work and play from the school semester.
I came across my acquaintance’s personal website and discovered his impressive catalog of blog posts over the past few months. They honestly inspired me to start this one for myself. So starts my list of mid-year resolutions:
- Resolution: Maintain a blog with at least 3 posts per month. My goals for blogging are:
Overcoming perfectionism. I’ve always struggled with writing quickly. Every little piece that I write, even this blog post, feels like a part of me. It needs to be perfect. I’ve realized that this “perfection” requirement is actually based on some external measure of writing quality (although I do hope my writing isn’t terrible). It’s more about if I’ve done my best possible work. This is why my first drafts take forever and I still struggle with getting the first draft in and revising afterward. I need every word and idea flow to be perfectly intentional. Otherwise, I feel like I’ve lost control over the whole writing process and the revising process becomes very difficult for me. This “perfectionist” process of doing everything right for each step of the process ends up taking a really long time, although I’m usually satisfied with the result. I’ve learned over the past few months that in the real world, delivering some product could be better than coming up with the best thing. The world runs on a clock, after all. I’m going to treat these blog posts as lower-stakes mini-projects so I stop obsessing over each word. I’ll make them more organized than diary entries, though.
Keeping track of my life. I’d like to spend this summer more aware of how I’m spending my time. Recording new things I’m learning in a more formal manner through blog posts, rather than diary entries, will help me organize my thoughts better.
Things I’ll post about: 1) Books I’ve been reading, 2) Random self-reflections, 3) Anything new I’m learning.
2. Resolution: Stick to practicing one piano piece at a time, and practice an hour daily. After stopping lessons several years ago, I’ve been trying to get back to playing classical pieces. After many months, there aren’t many pieces I’m able to play from beginning to end because 1) I’m attempting long pieces above my level like Ravel’s La Valse and 2) impatient with the progress I’m making, I move onto a new piece that grabs my attention. After the past year, I’ve realized how hard it is to make time for piano practice during the school year (a secondary concern is finding an unlocked practice room). For this summer, I pledge myself to just one shorter piece: Kapustin’s Etude №2.
3. Resolution: Maintain a healthy work-play balance. I wish I realized this back in high school, but ~surprise~ taking breaks makes me more productive. I’m going to spend time this summer meeting up with friends I haven’t seen since COVID began.
4. Read a book every weekend. Reading in long spurts, instead of 30-minute blocks.
5. Work out 30 minutes daily. Gotta get in a routine before the fall semester begins. I’ll be super close to a gym, so that’s awesome. I also need to lose the weight I gained over the spring semester from eating microwaved, processed food daily. 🤡
Some future topics I might post about: my classical music interest journey, research on the Kapustin Etude, or cool CS topics I’m learning this summer!
