yes, i'm writing in my blog a third time today. it's actually part of my next "rotation." here are all the things i do in each rotation (or try to do...): i do some ab ripper x exercises (like 3 of them, because that's all i can tolerate, and not lose my motivation). then, i draw a portrait of a picture i find online. after that, i do some basic boxing, thai kickboxing, and judo drills. i don't really know why. i guess it's just to get myself moving. before, i used to do taijiquan, but i've realized or seem to feel that a lot of the moves, while graceful, have no implicit meaning or appliclation, and hence, ring somewhat hollow for me. i guess as an aging man, that sort of thing should be appropriate for me. but i guess i no longer believe in it as a practical, practiceable martial art... so anyway, after the martial arts stuff, i play songs on the piano. they are songs that i used to play, when i was younger... no, let me amend that. only one of them is from when i was younger. it even has the notation that my old teacher, mr. sam adams, used to write in (or have me write in). poetic statements and imagery to help me to visualize or "feel" different parts of the song. anyway, that song is the "first arabesque" by debussy. i also play nocturne in e minor (?) by chopin. and i have been trying to play the song that my brother used to practice early in the morning, a song that sort of haunted me: "rustle of spring" by christian sinding. that latter has been proving to be difficult because it keeps switching between odd intervaled notes (i don't know the technical way of saying this): like, in parts, i will have to play 7ths, or 6ths, or 5ths, etc., switching back and forth. anyways, those are the three songs that i play regularly. i also have been trying to play "dancing in the moonlight" by king harvest, although it's gotten to be somewhat boring due to the simplistic repetition of it. i suppose i could make it more challenging by attempting to sing along with the piano playing... but i don't know. anyway, after playing the piano, i'm supposed to go running with the dog. however, i sort of stopped doing this, partly out of laziness, but also partly because i'm starting to notice that our dog musubi is slowing down, and that i shouldn't push him to run at my pace any more... by the way, i am super out of shape. just a quick sprint up the hill of our street gets me winded. or, to be more precise, i don't usually feel it going up the hill, but immediately after, turning the bend and going downhill, i think i start to feel it. it's as though my heart and breath have geared up for the challenge of going uphill, and then the sudden disappointment of that downhill segment makes me feel "the chain rattling" within me. i also notice that i have a kind of wheeze on my exhale. i think that if i got more in shape, then that wheeze would diminish, or even perhaps vanish. at points in time when i was more in shape, like when my son and i were doing judo, then i notice that a lot of that wheeze would go away...
anyway, after running, then i read a chapter in some book. for a long while, i was reading "a tale of two cities" by charles dickens, but i recently finished it. so now, i've picked up margaret atwood's "the handmaid's tale," and am trying to proceed through that. after all, i did listen to her masterclass, and found her to be an excellent teacher. so far, i've read two chapters in the book, and i love her writing. she is very plainsong (as she puts it), but direct. some of the images (which all are purposeful, and striking) are extremely evocative and deeply meaningful to the plot. her prose, in fact, borders on poetry to me...
so after reading a chapter, then i do one more big physical thing, which is p90x. i've been doing segments of different workouts, like the shoulders and arms workout, or the chest and back workout, or the legs and back workout. nothing big. just a little something to keep me going. like today, i did 6 exercises out of the legs and back workout: 4 leg exercises, and 2 pull up (back) exercises... after the p90x workout, then i listen to a "class" in masterclass. right now, i've been listening to billy collins, a poet. i appreciate his take on poetry, although i do feel he's a little- how should i put it- formulaic? but then again, how would one teach poetry, without some sense of structure? some set perspective? i guess without eyes, you can't really teach...
so then, after the masterclass thing, then i write in my blog (which i'm doing right now). then, after that, i try to write in my story. for a while, i used the nanowrimo website, and would just time myself for about 30 minutes (i'm so wimpy right now), and then enter the new word count. but then i decided to write in a notebook instead (following both margaret atwood and billy collins- and also neil gaiman, btw). and it's not really possible (or easy) to get a word count from that. so instead, for the past two cycles, i've just made it my task to write a page or two (now, two) in the notebook... still, kind of disappointing crap, but one must hope that by continuing the process, things will get better.
after the writing, then i practice japanese. that's gotten to be a real bear. i'm working on the level 3 (probably grade 3) kanji, and that set has about 200 kanji. so instead of trudging through all 200 and getting most of it wrong, i've just gone through this process of reviewing the ones i missed before (writing them 3 times each), and then writing about 30 that i don't know each time i cycle through. my hope is that i will gradually pick up more and more of that set of kanji. in fact, on this most recent pass, i was able to write 8 of the kanji based on their meaning. i know, whoop dee doo, but it's a start. (i'm already proficient in the first 240 kanji!).
after japanese, then i do something in khan academy. i'm going through the html and css class. i really like the teacher, pamela, who is fun and easy going. i just listen to one "lesson," and then do one related project.
after that, i read 5 chapters in a couple of manga: one piece, and berserk. i'm really falling in love with berserk, despite its gory reputation. i appreciate the pacing of the story. and the main character, i find to be extremely sympathetic.
recently, i've tagged on meditation to my routine. so i meditate for 30 minutes.
and then, it's back to the start again!
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in between, i kind of go and check out the plants.
and that's it. that's been my routine of late, in between the daily work tasks of trying to contact and work with my students... or attend online meetings...
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i'm hoping to break through the planks of reason, as emily dickenson put it. i want to reach a place of plenitude. you know when you have a vivid dream? that's how i want to feel when i write. it's so clear and believable to me, even if it is mad, that it is a simple matter to write everything down. i imagine i would feel compelled to write everything down. not this frustrating trickle, this drip drip drip of putting words to paper... empty of inspiration, vapid words.
oh well, i feel that that's enough for today!
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