RU-3

This week is either the nadir after which things will look up, or my resolutions will just peter away and there won't even be an update next week. Work continues to peak sporadically throwing a wrench in any attempt at a schedule. But I hope that writing this update down every week, however bad it looks, may actually help me.

- Running: Again, I ran just once in the middle of the week. I tried the alternating approach and ran for a total of 20 minutes, but the time I ran at 6 mph only ended up being 8 minutes! But it left me much less winded this way, So maybe I can push myself more easily next time and make it to 30 or 40 minutes first and then try to expand on the interval of time I run at the faster speed.

- Weight: Has gone up to 203.5 lbs. I have never crossed 201 lbs. This is a new high (low) for me! Death to munchies!!

- Book and textbook: Didn't touch either. I just have to make a start here. I know it is just a case of starting trouble. If I convince myself not to watch the Australian open or something or the other on TV after dinner, I will be able to do this!! Alternately, if the workload reduces in the coming weeks, I will be able to take advantage of the lull between meetings at work to get in some reading instead of surfing the internet. Just one hour a day. Baby steps. Don't know why this is even difficult. Reading books is something I enjoy. I blame the internet, although I love the internet. Damn you internet.

- Blog: I somehow convinced myself that writing a draft and modifying it over time is a good way to write good blog posts. I know there are people who do this. I know there are advantages to putting something away and looking at it with fresh eyes the next day. It is just not working for me, and I was wrong to think that I should try this. For me, it is out-of-sight out-of-mind. Moreover, there is a human tendency to get jaded by repeated exposure. What looks like a great line on first reading looks hackneyed on the third reading. This tendency may be what makes good art critics good at their work, but it totally sucks when reviewing your own work. I should stick to my own way of doing things. Hammering something out in a single sitting and letting it stay that way. I may look back and cringe later, but at least I got something out. Proofreading should be the extent of revision.

- Comments: I am getting better at this. Earlier, when I started commenting, I would have an obsessive desire to check back on the comments to see if anyone responded. Or when I post something on this blog, to check back to see if anyone commented. I have consciously let this habit go, and I can see it has helped. The last couple of comments others posted on this blog had been sitting in moderation for a few days. I had just not checked for comments every day. I have also stopped checking back on blog posts where I have made comments. The urge is just not there anymore to see if anyone responded, or to continue the comment discussion. This frees up some much needed time to actually compose a new post (although there is an unrelated problem of inertia and musal absence that complicates things a bit). When I set up this blog, I made a similar decision to not make the blog about traffic or comments. I did not set up any page visit counters or other analytics because I didn't want to obsess over them. I also set up the commenting scheme such that it is not easy to have a continous discussion between commentors on a single blog post. The only reason I have comments is so that others could comment here to correct any egregious errors in my post, and thus reduce the chance of any stray reader being misled by my faulty reasoning. It's not that comments are unwelcome, but I don't want to either actively seek them, or write stuff that makes it easier to get them.