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March 19, 2024, 06:54:59 pm

Author Topic: Slow&Steady's Interim Aspirations  (Read 13434 times)

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SlowandSteady

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Slow&Steady's Interim Aspirations
« on: July 18, 2019, 11:25:21 pm »
+8
I have this amazing power to think of things to do and routines to get into that will benefit me in the future and then miraculously convince myself that I really don't need to do them. Hopefully, this thread will act as a kryptonite of sorts to my impractical ability during Semester 2.

Things I should do and the reasons why (In case I try to change my mind):
Get at least 8 hours of sleep (Bed at 1/4 to 10 and rise at 1/4 to 6 on a good day) - Doing this just allows me to have a more relaxed morning and allows time for homework and a substantial breakfast.

30 minutes of piano practice a night - Just started taking lessons a couple weeks ago because I've always been messing around on a keyboard and decided it was time to learn properly. My goal is to be able to join the band in Year 9 next year without sounding like a toddler throwing a highly audible tantrum on the keys.

Complete two crosswords a night - Got a crossword book in hopes of further expanding my vocabulary, which will undoubtedly help in English. My Grandma is pretty much a talking, semi-walking thesaurus, but one day I shall overtake her as the crossword sensei (mwahaha).

Defeat my seemingly insatiable lust for liquorice of the chocolate-coated variety – But more generally, lollies or chocolates of any kind. I can hear my teeth’s pleading, anguished screams whenever I chew sweets, so, like the generous person I am, I’ll attempt to show them mercy.

Summarise content of classes after each school day – Doing so will hopefully assist in consolidating those rad knowledgez (but more importantly, scrambling to cram for exams). Will probably need to do it in a word document rather than handwriting so I can begin to comprehend what I’m looking at.

Help out around the house more often – Just upping the general chores like sweeping, dishes, dog walking etc. Gotta show some mad respect to the old man.

Semester Goal: Get Str8 A's - If not for some idiotic mistakes on the exam for HPE (a.k.a the bane of my existence), I would have achieved this last semester. At least I know, with a little more work and less procrastination (lord save me), I'm capable of reaching this goal.


Hopefully I'll be able to report on my progress (or lack thereof) daily, starting tomorrow. Peace out
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brothanathan

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Re: Slow&Steady's Interim Aspirations
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2019, 11:36:16 pm »
+3
It's excellent that you're aiming to get your act together in Year 8. Just don't stress about getting straight A's. Make the use of the next 7 or so months to experiment with nearly everything you can to see what works the best. You don't want to judge your progress on marks (as obscene as this may sound to you, any grade you get on your test doesn't really tell you where you're at). Even if someone gets straight As in Yrs 7-10, it doesn't mean they're perfect and let's be real here, no one is.

Best of luck, I didn't have such desire, yet the bravery to face my wrongdoings in Year 8.

« Last Edit: July 19, 2019, 10:21:05 pm by brothanathan »

caffinatedloz

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Re: Slow&Steady's Interim Aspirations
« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2019, 06:01:22 am »
+1
Can't wait to see your progress! ;D

SlowandSteady

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Re: Slow&Steady's Interim Aspirations
« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2019, 08:14:05 pm »
+3
Even if someone gets straight As in Yrs 7-10, it doesn't mean their perfect and let's be real here, no one is.
Haha, yeah, I guess I did sort of convey that marks were the be all and end all. I don't associate grades with any form of self-worth, but rather with how much effort I put in throughout the semester. Achieving that would mean that I've done the best that I can do; I'd be more proud of that fact than the letter grade.

Make the use of the next 7 or so months to experiment with nearly everything you can to see what works the best.
I'll be sure to :). Thanks for the encouraging words!
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SlowandSteady

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Re: Slow&Steady's Interim Aspirations
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2019, 11:01:17 pm »
+4
19/07, Day 1

Get at least 8 hours of sleep - Knocked off at around 11:30 last night to wake at 7:30. 8 hours, sure, but I was rushing out the door with toast in my mouth. Need to get to bed earlier to avoid mass morning hysteria.

30 minutes of piano practice a night - Check. Might upload one of my masterpieces later on. 

Complete two crosswords a night - Yikes, I've found these crosswords to be more challenging than expected. I'll switch from the crossword book to online ones so that I may change the difficulty and work my way up (not technically cheating, but cutting it pretty damn close).

Defeat my seemingly insatiable lust for the sweets  – The day after I start this thread someone went shopping and there was a full packet of Tim Tams in the fridge. The amount of self-restraint I exerted to stop myself from having one was... unimaginable.

Revise content of classes after each school day – Added all wild manner of Spanish words to my little glossary. Also attempted to explain the process of subduction and hotspots to my Dad for geography.

Help out around the house more often – Walked & fed the dawg, helped cook dinner and did a load of dishes. Old man approves.

SlowandSteady, signing off.
« Last Edit: July 19, 2019, 11:03:02 pm by SlowandSteady »
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SlowandSteady

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Re: Slow&Steady's Interim Aspirations
« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2019, 10:30:29 pm »
+4
20/07, Day 2

Get at least 8 hours of sleep - I had 8 hours sleep to wake up at 7... then two more because it was so freezing that getting out of bed would ensure nothing but frostbite.

30 minutes of piano practice - Tick. Turned into 45mins because I couldn't hear my timer go off. I'm Exceeding my limits.

Complete two crosswords a night -   I feel so accomplished ;D.

Defeat my seemingly insatiable lust for the sweets  – Filled the void with raisin toast and decaffeinated coffee.

Revise content of classes after each school day – Completed some Spanish and Science questions online. Finished maths HW for Monday.

Help out around the house more often (:() – Did a load of dishes but neglected to give the dog his walkies. I think he was angry with me; he seemed pretty depressed.


Chuffed that the Lions won the footy tonight. I need to pick up some slack with Neddy (the pupper) and do a full-on clean of my room tomorrow.
« Last Edit: July 20, 2019, 10:46:37 pm by SlowandSteady »
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SlowandSteady

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Re: Slow&Steady's Interim Aspirations
« Reply #6 on: July 21, 2019, 10:23:56 pm »
+3
21/07, Day 3

Get at least 8 hours of sleep - Slept at Midnight and got up at 9. :-\

30 minutes of piano practice (:() - Lost the desire to do the full 30 part way through. Imo, I'd prefer if my teacher gave me a bit more work to do, as my lessons are weekly which leaves a lot of time to complete it.

Complete two crosswords a night - Victory

Defeat my seemingly insatiable lust for the sweets  – Didn't really feel the need to have any, so that's a good sign.

Revise content of classes – Didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but I read over some stuff for Geography that had been confusing me for a bit and I have the hang of it now :).

Help out around the house more often – Did some dishes, a load of washing and I took Ned out for a walk. Afterwards, he had a play out in the backyard, which tuckered him out.

Vacuumed my room but my desk is still in shambles, so I'll tidy that up in the morning.
GN, AN.
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Bri MT

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Re: Slow&Steady's Interim Aspirations
« Reply #7 on: July 22, 2019, 02:30:22 pm »
+2
When you practice piano what do you mostly focus on?

Out of curiosity, do you mind sharing what was confusing you in geo? It's always interesting to see what's more/less familiar to different people

Seems like you're generally pretty good at getting 8 hours and it's more the timing that you struggle with. I'm not sure if you've already got a particular strategy you use, but I find it useful to use an automatic blue light filter (reminds me it's getting to night time as well as reducing the production of stay-awake-chemicals) and try shifts of roughly half an hour at a time.


Good luck with your goals! :)

SlowandSteady

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Re: Slow&Steady's Interim Aspirations
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2019, 05:44:39 pm »
+1
When you practice piano what do you mostly focus on?

Out of curiosity, do you mind sharing what was confusing you in geo? It's always interesting to see what's more/less familiar to different people

Seems like you're generally pretty good at getting 8 hours and it's more the timing that you struggle with. I'm not sure if you've already got a particular strategy you use, but I find it useful to use an automatic blue light filter (reminds me it's getting to night time as well as reducing the production of stay-awake-chemicals) and try shifts of roughly half an hour at a time.


Good luck with your goals! :)


Thanks for taking an interest :). The most recent work I've been set was to transpose a C Major chord progression to G Major, practice some scales (Only three so far) and practising some songs with correct phrasing & dynamics. The most difficult thing I've encountered is reading the music rather than playing it.

With Geo, I just needed to clear some things up about the process of subduction and island arc formation. I mean, I knew what happened, but had trouble understanding why.

I actually use a blue light filter! The effects of it aren't really that noticeable, but they're there, so that'd be helping.
Thanks for the advice (and reminding me that I need to practise piano).
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Bri MT

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Re: Slow&Steady's Interim Aspirations
« Reply #9 on: July 22, 2019, 06:02:35 pm »
+1
Thanks for taking an interest :). The most recent work I've been set was to transpose a C Major chord progression to G Major, practice some scales (Only three so far) and practising some songs with correct phrasing & dynamics. The most difficult thing I've encountered is reading the music rather than playing it.

With Geo, I just needed to clear some things up about the process of subduction and island arc formation. I mean, I knew what happened, but had trouble understanding why.

I actually use a blue light filter! The effects of it aren't really that noticeable, but they're there, so that'd be helping.
Thanks for the advice (and reminding me that I need to practise piano).

No worries at all!

Nice. When I did music in high school (saxophone rather than piano) I found it difficult to motivate myself to learn my scales so definitely no judgement from me. We never covered those topics when I was in highschool so it's interesting to see that it's a part of your curriculumn at all - thanks for sharing :)

Yeah I find for me that I have to increase the filtering above the default settings because otherwise it doesn't seem like much difference. Hopefully the help is more noticeable in future.

SlowandSteady

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Re: Slow&Steady's Interim Aspirations
« Reply #10 on: July 22, 2019, 06:38:16 pm »
0
As far as I know, there's one piano per band (3 band levels: equivalent to easy, intermediate & advanced) at my school's music program and they're all filled, so I'm not actually sure what the deal is if I want to join as a piano player next year (maybe I was too late).
« Last Edit: July 22, 2019, 07:01:26 pm by SlowandSteady »
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SlowandSteady

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Re: Slow&Steady's Interim Aspirations
« Reply #11 on: July 22, 2019, 10:08:17 pm »
+4
22/07, Day 4

Get at least 8 hours of sleep - 10:30PM - 6:30AM :) Getting there

30 minutes of piano practice - Check

Complete two crosswords a night (:-\) - Nope. I'm not really sure if completing crosswords has been bolstering my vocabulary as much as I'd hoped. I'll read books instead; feels like less of a chore and my local library has truckloads of them.

Defeat my seemingly insatiable lust for the sweets  – It just seems to run like clockwork when you don't have any and can't purchase any.

Revise content of classes – Completed some Spanish Q's. Leaving my math's hw for the morning.

Help out around the house more often – Took Ned for a walk and did some dishes.

Going to do some browsing for books that look like an interesting read.
later skaters.
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SlowandSteady

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Re: Slow&Steady's Interim Aspirations
« Reply #12 on: July 23, 2019, 09:22:16 pm »
+3
23/07, Day 5

Get at least 8 hours of sleep - 10:30PM--6:06AM. Got a bit side-tracked looking for books.

30 minutes of piano practice - Watched a video on sight-reading notes and did some practise songs.

Do some reading 8) - I'm not really much of a recreational reader at the moment, so I looked at some reviews/recommendations and thought that Tomorrow, When the War Began would be a good place to start. Getting through some of that now.

Defeat my seemingly insatiable lust for the sweets – Check.

Revise content of classes – Check.

Help out around the house more often (:() – Came home with a pounding headache and just didn't feel like doing anything, but I was let off because of the work I'd been doing earlier.
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Snow Leopard

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Re: Slow&Steady's Interim Aspirations
« Reply #13 on: July 24, 2019, 05:37:10 pm »
+1

Do some reading 8) - I'm not really much of a recreational reader at the moment, so I looked at some reviews/recommendations and thought that Tomorrow, When the War Began would be a good place to start. Getting through some of that now.

I've read that book. If you like romance books then I think you'll like it.
Spoiler
Be warned: it doesn't have a happy ending.

SlowandSteady

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Re: Slow&Steady's Interim Aspirations
« Reply #14 on: July 24, 2019, 09:56:44 pm »
+1
Spoiler
Be warned: it doesn't have a happy ending.
Yikes. Well, it's one in a series, so I'll just let my naive little brain think that there could be one.
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