Writing this on a Saturday like usual. The only difference is I will publish on the blog before I post the YouTube vid. I've decided to upload the weekly video check-in tomorrow instead. That's the plan anyway. I'm breaking the pattern a little by doing this but I've had one of those days. I just want to switch off and not worry about recording audio and editing it all together with the video clips afterwards.

Speaking of, last week's upload was the most problematic I've had for the year. It was a later upload than I'd like, so already I was annoyed. Then the video render time was way too long, which was the first clue that something was wrong with the clips or the editor. What happened was that my powerstrip got unplugged by accident in the middle of the first render attempt. When everything restarted, it caused a bit of a hiccup. 

I ended up starting from scratch, pulling all the original elements and placing them where they needed to be rather than using the preexisting template I had. Once that was done and the video had rendered successfully, I started the upload process to YT. For some reason, it was stuck at processing. I had to cancel the upload twice. The third time finally worked but it was right at midnight, if not right after. By then, I was dead tired, uninspired, and ready to sleep. My Saturdays, although I'm technically off from work, are still quite busy. 

Now you're all caught up with last week's video upload B.S.

So for this week, I'm going to get up early tomorrow and record the audio first thing after coffee, while everyone in the house is still asleep, and my mind is fresh, clear, and less distracted. I'll edit that into the video right after and hopefully, there will be little to no technical issues this time around. 

As for this past week's checklist. Which tasks did I actually manage to get done?
Journaling: I have a couple of good entries in my paper journal this week.
Leisure time: I managed to squeeze in a little bit of gaming. It felt like everytime I sat down and tried to play a game, something around here would happen and I'd have to stop. That's my life in general. I have trouble having an interrupted time to myself. I got a bit of reading in as well.
Write blog post: Yep, this I did. 
Meditation: I got a couple of these in. Need more. 

Missed milestones:
Exercise: Still no dice and it sure feels like it. My energy level and overall mood has been less than ideal.
Drawing: I just made an edit on my post last night. I'm checking raw video files as I do weekly computer maintenance, and it doesn't look like I recorded any drawing footage. Of course, it doesn't mean that I didn't do it. Maybe I did and just didn't record. Not sure though. So as of now, this goes on the missed pile.
Healthy diet: I'd say I'm on the fence with this. I've been eating my usual diet but I have been drinking more soda later in the work week. Since my energy level has been down and my work load has picked up two-fold it seems, the afternoon slumps have been brutal. 

On the plus side, I've been able to sleep a little earlier for a couple of nights, resulting in about a 9 hour sleep cycle for those nights. That's pretty rare for me, but being able to do that made me feel a little more rested at least. 


***

I have been thinking a lot about my goals for this year, and I think I need to revisit my plan from the beginning of the year. For some of those goals, I'm right on track and I've actually accomplished a couple of the main ones. However, I think I'm starting to stray away a bit from some of the others. 

This coming week's plan of action:
I'm switching it up. Outside of the day job I'm going to just work on giving myself some downtime during the evenings. I've had some stressful days these past couple of weeks and I think the ratio of work to downtime is way off. All work, all of the time. I need some downtime, We'll see what this results in for next week's check-in. I'm probably going to do the vid upload on Sundays and post the blog on Saturday just to see if that works better for my schedule.

Be well,
[R]

This is probably the latest time I’ve ever tried to upload the weekly vid and corresponding blog post. Video is saving in the background and it looks like it’s taking longer than usual. I might have to cancel out of it and restart the process. It didn’t help that I accidentally unplugged the powerstrip to my workstation which meant that I had to restart everything.

It’s just another reminder that I need to replace this computer. It didn’t really start showing its age until I had to use if for remote work.

Seriously, I need to shift the task of recording and editing to the beginning of the day every Saturday.

Back to the list.

Overall, I did better this week in terms of checking things off my task list.

I basically hit all my marks except for exercise. I might have to just get this out of the way on Sundays to at least get one workout in. My work week has been incredibly busy especially certain days. Working remotely definitely has its pros and cons. I’m glad I don’t have to commute but there are a lot of distractions at home.

I’ve had to reduce the quality of the video render to see if it would speed up the writing time but it doesn’t seem to help much. This might have something to do with my computer getting unplugged and files not saving properly.

I have been diligent and consistent on publishing a vid and a blog post every week since the beginning of the year. I’d hate to miss one because of technical issues.

Anyway, as mentioned, I managed to do everything else on the list that I try to do weekly (see below):

Meditate
Maintain a healthy diet
Journal
Write a blog post
Draw
and have a bit of leisure time

Now if I can get a bit of workout in, I’m golden.
So tomorrow, I’m going to try and get that exercise session in. Because I know I’ll have the time. In doing so, I will at least ensure I’ll get one workout in. After that, I’d actually like to enjoy my day off and not spend it running around doing way too much.

I’m going to post this on the blog first since the video is still rendering away in the background.

I hope you all are doing alright.

Be well,
[R]

I wish I had better things to write this week but I’m afraid this post is destined to be lackluster.

As far as my weekly goals go, this past week has been the worst week since I started recording and posting here at the beginning of the year.

On this week’s video, I incorrectly stated that I only managed to do 2 things done off my list when in fact, it’s three.

I was able to meditate four times this past week. Which I believe helped me get through the busy week.

Leisure time: I got in some gaming time, about 3 hours worth. I also watched the new episode of The Walking Dead as I always do.

I wrote a blog post on Saturday.


Everything else below I missed.
Exercise
Journal
Eat healthy (I ate more junk food and drank more soda than usual)
Draw

Yep, not too happy about the output for my side projects and personal goals.

It’s been a tiring week to be quite honest. I’m trying to get as much rest and relaxation this weekend so I can be ready for the coming week which looks to be another busy one.

Tomorrow, I’ll write down a weekday schedule for before and after work. Something I haven’t been doing as much as I used to.

It’s 8:47pm and I need to post this up along with the vid so I’ll conclude here.

Be well,
[R]

9:26pm, Saturday

Another week, another post. As always, my video is rendering in the background as I type this. I need to plan this a little better so perhaps I can write the post a little earlier in the day when I’m not as tired but for now this will have to do.

This past week has definitely been an improvement from the previous one. The back pain I had before has now subsided, It’s still there but my movements are not as restricted plus I’m not in nearly as much pain and discomfort.

On to the check list.

What I didn’t get to do:

• Journal
  
• Draw
  

What I got to do:

• Exercise - only once since I wanted to get back to working out as it always improves my energy level, focus, and mood. I had to cut it short since my back started to have a bit o full pain. I didn’t want to push it to the point where the back pain actually gets worse. I’d like to increase this to twice a week.
  
• Meditation - twice this week. Once in the morning, and once in the evening. I’d like to increase this to at least thrice a week.
  
• Leisure time - I got to fit in some gaming which I have been wanting to do. I downloaded some additions to a current title I already have and started playing one of the story lines. I managed to squeeze in a couple of my usual tv shows (TWD and Prodigal Son). I also got in more reading than usual.
  
• I wrote a blog post last Saturday.
  
• Continue with my healthy dietary intake, mainly low-sodium, limited caffeine and sugar, as well as loading up on fruits & veggies.  Although, as I’ve mentioned on my latest YT vid, I have been consuming a little more junk food than usual. Not a whole lot but I have keep it at a minimum.
  

For the upcoming week, I’d like to add sufficient sleep to the mix. I don’t think I get enough of it. Not even during the weekend. I’ve always had an issue with not getting ample sleep. For the longest time I used to struggle with insomnia. Nowadays, the issue is that I wake up too easily in the middle of the night, therefore my quality of sleep suffers.

My video is still saving so I’ll go ahead and post this up.

Stay safe everyone.

Be well,
[R]