Revision

I’ve started revising my first Nanowrimo book.  I expect it to be a long process, but I think there’s some worthwhile stuff there that I really want to unlock.

Relax Mark…

Lately I’ve been telling myself to take it easy.  I get worked up over things far to easily sometimes.  I don’t know how evident that is to those around me, but I’m less worried about that than I am my own mental health.

I liked the rain

Saturday I went for a walk in the rain.

I wore a pair of fast drying shorts, a comfortable t-shirt, a hoodie, a rain jacket, and my new sneakers.  I had a big umbrella and a baseball cap to shield my glasses from spray.

Linux Desktops (2012 1st Quarter Comparison)

A lot has changed since my last post about Linux desktops only a few months ago.  Mostly in response to the big uproar in the community over Gnome3 and Unity.

Days of late

In these days of late I’m occupying myself most of the time it seems.

Besides having three periods of class almost every day of the week, preparing for those, weekly evening classes, and preparing for those, I’m also tutoring a fellow ALT in Japanese once a week and trying to run a game of D&D once a week.

End of the Iraq War: Reflections from an aspiring pragmatic pacifist

In mid-December this year the Iraq war, which has run for about a third of my life finally ended.

I’m glad it’s over, but as the US is still heavily engaged in Afghanistan, it doesn’t feel so over.  The reasons for entering Iraq with military force were so fuzzy and unlikely, and later proved to be false, that it has puzzled me since its beginning.

2011 Lunar Eclipse from Kochi, Japan

Last night my girlfriend and I went to the river to watch the lunar eclipse. The conditions were rather fantastic.  It was happening between 9-11 pm on a Saturday night.  The sky was cloudless, and it was only about 7-9 degrees Celsius out.

Nanowrimo, Take Three

This is my third year in Japan and my third year attempting Nanowrimo.  I successfully finished my 50,000 word novel two years ago, but the result wasn’t worth much to anyone other than me.  For me though, the process was worth all the time and energy I spent on it.

Improved quality of life

So it appears that I am losing body fat based on my measurements so far, even considering how often I lapse.  My actual net weight hasn’t really gone down particularly much, though that is actually quite optimal assuming the weight is being made up for by muscle mass.  But anyway, even if not I’ve decided to stick with the diet and exercise plan because my quality of life has improved a bit.

Level Up

I have officially leveled up at climbing.

I went into the gym this evening and readily cleared my first 4th rank course.  I’ve been working on this particular course for over a month across four or so visits to the gym.

After clearing that course I then handily cleared two more 4th rank courses and then made progress on a fourth.  I also did better than I ever have on the extremely steep overhang wall on two 5th rank courses that I’d never been able to even start before.

It felt… amazing.

For some perspective I started out climbing around the 6th rank level and plateaued heavily at the 5th rank.  Once I started renting climbing shoes I did a lot better.  There are still plenty of 5th rank courses that I can’t clear, but some of that has to do with strength that I just don’t have yet.