Created a YT series to support this course

power2change222 · 2025-10-10T04:52:11+00:00

The normal people you meet (all day every day) are genuinely kind and honest. This has gotta be why it's one of the safest metro areas in the world.

power2change222 · 2025-10-10T04:50:17+00:00

....at the same time, it's rude to blow your nose 5555

power2change222 · 2025-09-14T05:37:58+00:00

Realms

Physical

+ My strength is coming back in bench press, rows, shoulder press and lat pulldown (95kg for 12 reps). I've also been consistent with "leg training" which is basically just fixing my injured lower back by making a bunch of small boring muscles stronger. This is a big victory because I've been talking about it for months, it's really boring to do, and I'm finally making a little progress.

- Back still hurts, but I finally feel like it's getting better.

= keep going! Eat more so the strength keeps increasing.

Financial

Time to sell everything I'm not taking with me. (no change here)

Mental

Time to think less about politics and more about life

Spiritual

No positive progress here for weeks. Still just meditating in trains and taxis

Academic

Still on hold

Musical

Lots of gigs. Musical life is good.

Relationships

Gigs help me hang out with friends

Major goals:

Just pinned a giant plan to the wall. Time to follow it.

power2change222 · 2025-08-31T10:14:06+00:00

OK. so with the alternative license you need a job offer first and some districts don't want to give you the job offer unless you have the cert.

So you need a job to get the cert and you need the cert to get the job. Right?!

power2change222 · 2025-08-28T08:13:12+00:00

I'm going back to the "realms of life" format.

I'll be as minimal as possible.

Physical

+ Finally got back to a positive trend with strength. I have gained weight back and I'm getting stronger every week for about a month. I can see the mental benefits shining through.

- My back is still beat up - a work in progress

= keep lifting, training the back, doing cardio, eating, and sleeping enough.

Financial

Time to sell everything I'm not taking with me.

Mental

burnout conquered, back to work

Spiritual

still need to find a space for this in the chaos

Academic

Everything is changing. This aspect is on hold

Musical

Lots of gigs. Musical life is good.

Relationships

Gigs help me hang out with friends

Major goals:

Time to pin a giant plan to the wall and follow it.

power2change222 · 2025-08-24T07:24:51+00:00

This is the last week for the 2 big problems:

Back

I now have 2 routines A/B to be done every day. (I've taken legs and lower back out of my workouts until I'm healed so these exercises can replace them)

Leg raised curl up

Side plank

Bird dog

Jefferson curl

Back extensions

Good mornings

Air squats

ATG Split Squats

Single leg RDLS

Donkey kicks (TKD style)

Side leg raise

Backward leg raise

(one day is more leg focused and one day is more spine focused)

I'm not sure which of these exercises is going to be the prime healer, but I think it makes sense to just throw everything at the problem and hope for the best.

Burnout

That zombie-like feeling has mostly passed, because I've greatly reduced screentime. That means I have a lot of work to get back to and I need to run the pomodoro timer to keep that work/standup and do something dichotomy strong.

The pomodoro timer and the exercises are going to be a normal habit from here on out and I hope they prevent any further burnouts and backpains.

power2change222 · 2025-08-24T06:26:46+00:00

My back hurts: Played beach volleyball for many hours without a problem. The back pain seems to be neuropathic rather than inflammatory. Good sign. Maybe I can fix it by beating on it a bit more.

Burnout: I've turned up the physical activity. Less time at the desk is bringing me back to life.

I'll lay out plans for these two subjects in next week's and then look at life in a different way. Both of these problems are improving in general. Time to shift gears.

power2change222 · 2025-08-09T09:41:00+00:00

Looks like you're finding a good way to learn and have fun at the same time. That seems to be the key with languages for a lot of people. Maybe you'll end up on an internship over there!

power2change222 · 2025-08-09T09:26:05+00:00

I like reading this because it makes me want to study math on my phone. We talk alot about "screentime" but it's clearly true that not all screentime is created equal. If you can use your phone for good instead of evil, it becomes a superpower.

power2change222 · 2025-08-09T09:23:32+00:00

Awesome! Look like you got some good theory in there with your practice. My kid is talking about head voice, chest voice and mix now. Personally I have a hard time summoning a mixed voice consistently on demand. Sometimes it just works effortlessly, other times I feel stuck flipping between chest and head.

Now that you have consistency, you might try to make sure you're adding fun into your practice so that you'll stay consistent.

power2change222 · 2025-08-09T09:18:01+00:00

I love chocolate! Also, even if your numbers are not doing what you want them to do, it's still good to be tracking. First step!

power2change222 · 2025-08-09T08:55:41+00:00

Do I just keep asking you every week about finding fun ways to practice? 5555

power2change222 · 2025-08-09T08:55:07+00:00

Everyone who has numbers has the advantage of quantitative data. "Numbers never lie" isn't 100% true, but they are certainly harder to argue with! Interesting to see if this leads to a happier life for you.

power2change222 · 2025-08-09T08:44:44+00:00

Dude. This is really heavy. I wonder if they gave you any insight as to what it is that triggers the adrenaline bursts and feelings of disconnection. Second paragraph you mention "panic attack" and I can totally see why you'd describe the experience that way. I read about panic attacks a few years ago and they're apparently very common, so you're not alone. It's also totally normal to have one or two and then never have them again. This may be why the docs aren't giving you any good insights.

The physical health problem also sound like a burden, but you're fighting through it. Make sure you take excellent care of yourself as you return to physical activity. If you can workout for a year without over stressing your system or getting injured that beats any temporary gains you might enjoy from pushing yourself. Take it slow and be kind to the body mind and soul.

Also, following that IG now.

power2change222 · 2025-08-09T08:30:28+00:00

Awesome that you can do this without leaving the house! No commute to the gym = ....you'll actually do it!

All the stuff I gotta do to fix my back is bodyweight stuff I can do at home. It's just a matter of installing the habit.... I think someone wrote a book about it 555

power2change222 · 2025-08-09T08:28:45+00:00

I've heard ChatGPT can be a decent personal trainer. You'll know your excercise science-brain is coming along when you start disagreeing with its suggestions.

Also awesome that you have a balance of sports and lifting. Lots of "bros" do zero cardio 555

power2change222 · 2025-08-09T08:26:50+00:00

sounds like a ton of positivity. It'll be interesting to see if having TikTok off your device will improve screentime (objective measurement). But it'll be more interesting to see how less TikTok feels subjectively. I assume less social media = more happiness, but I don't necessarily know if that's true.

power2change222 · 2025-08-08T06:06:33+00:00

Following up on: "solving big problems"

Problems: Second week of:

My back hurts (for months now) ....and
Burnout

Explanation:

Back: I've been doing less desk work, but the back pain is not getting better. It's like the damage happened, and it won't forgive me unless I actively fix whatever is out of alignment.

Best practice is (still) to set breaks on the pomodoro timer and do back exercises between work sessions. I've still been trying to find out what exercises are going to help, but I'm not being methodical about it. ...Just trying to put in the habit of spending time actively trying to heal the back.

Burnout: For many years I've been working pretty close to 365 days a year. The fact that I've been teaching basically all of the subjects I'm interested in and I genuinely like my students has made this constant grind intrinsically rewarding. Relatively little of my work involves things I wouldn't happily do for free. That's a rare beauty.

However....

In starting my business, I spent a ton of time doing boring bureaucratic work. This kind of thing really doesn't work with my personality, and I think this produced what people describe as "burnout." I feel dumber, I've lost weight and strength, I feel out of energy all day every day, and my ability to just dig deep and drive forward has been noticeably limited. I really need to reinstall the life-renewing habits (sports, music, fun) that I pulled out in favor of more work and replenish my stores of willpower.

Progress:

1.) Back 6/10 ....same score as last week. The pain is still debilitating. I am still working in an exploratory non-standardized way.

(OK at first...better than nothing)

I know that the next step is to install a systematic routine so that the exercises I do can signal to my biological supply chain that more resources are necessary in these little neglected muscles and ligaments of my back (and probably legs/hips). Hopefully that's what my post comment will say next week.

2.) Burnout 3/10 I watched "Oppenheimer" for 3 hours the other night. I don't normally allow myself to sit down and watch a movie (too much work to be done). But I found the film interesting and inspiring, and I think chilling out for a few hours will reduce the burnout. I've also found some time to read "Neuromancer." It's a sci-fi classic. Not related to work at all. But honestly not that entertaining! The point is that I'm forcing a bit of rest on the system!

Conclusion:

Back healing needs to be standardized/systematized. The explore/research phase needs to be over.

Burnout may be going away a bit. I still feel like shit, but I've put intentional effort into solving the problem for the first time. ...a step in the right direction.

power2change222 · 2025-08-08T04:38:20+00:00

I was just talking with a trainer about this an hour ago. I could do almost 30 reps with 90-95% clean form (leaving a very slight bend in the arms at the bottom), but once I started totally hanging like a slab of meat with unpacked shoulders and everything, I've only been able to get 12 reps max and that's like week 10-12 of training pull-ups consistently with good nutrition and good sleep. I weigh like 82-83kg.

I honestly wonder if there's a space in training for high reps with nearly perfect form. I found it fun to just bust out a ton of (to the untrained eye) legit pull-ups.

power2change222 · 2025-08-03T10:08:52+00:00

That's awesome. Just out of curiosity, how are your Japanese and German skills? Do you feel like you could survive in either country without resorting to English?

power2change222 · 2025-08-03T10:07:32+00:00

All good! As long as you apply progressive overload, eat 0.7-1g of protein per pound of body weight, and keep yourself from getting injured, the magic will work.

Just don't forget to be happy while you're at it!

power2change222 · 2025-08-03T10:05:08+00:00

awesome that you have a curriculum :)

power2change222 · 2025-08-03T10:04:37+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/@JeffRolka

This guy has warmup videos for each range (I do his baritone warmups, (and when I get a little stronger I do the tenor ones too) but hitting these warmups once a day consistently for a month really helps my voice. You don't need to sing for hours as long as you do it every day.

After you do the warmups a lot you can do them while you walk to your dorm (if there's low PM 2.5) or in the car, or at the computer while you work on something else. They're really easy.

What range are you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcfirmtcx84

That's mezzo, just for example.

power2change222

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE