Against better judgment, I am taking a few minutes to write a little, so I don’t miss today’s post. I haven’t been this busy in a while, and I welcome the change. The only entertaining thing I did today was watching a televised program put on by the Pacific Symphony–orchestra of Orange County. It wasn’t my beloved Los Angeles Philharmonic, but it was a beautiful program, and I called my mom so that my parents could watch it too. It’s no match for the live concerts, but it’ll have to do while the live performances resume.

If I had more time, I would write about the memories brought on by each piece performed. Instead, I will list my favorite excerpts of larger works they performed: Moonlight Sonata; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5; Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4; Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini.

Thankfully, I feel I was more productive at work today, but not quite to the level I would like to be. I really think I need to start going to bed earlier and working out regularly. I’ve been neglecting my health lately in terms of physical activity.

I deleted all social media apps from my phone for lent to challenge myself. Today, however, I gave in to temptation and downloaded TikTok. I spent about an hour scrolling through video after video. I came across a lot of funny material that gave me some good laughs. Ultimately though, it added very little value to my day, so I need to atone for my lack of willpower and keep myself away from there for a while longer.

This week will definitely be far busier for me, and I hope to use that to drive me into my high productivity gear for the rest of the week. This time, I am armed with a few tools to boost my productivity. One is that the weather is nice enough where I can work outside for part of the day. I tried it today for about an hour, and the change in scenery and the fresh air helped me focus on a report I was working on. The other tool is a new espresso machine I bought myself. I had a sixteen-year-old machine that my sister gave to me that finally gave up on me and a new machine given to me that seemed never to have worked quite well. So I decided to buy a new one that can make different coffees like cappuccinos, lattes, and espressos with the touch of a button, from producing the espresso to frothing the milk.

Anyway, I’ll end my post here and decide whether I should go to sleep after this or push a little more until 1 a.m. to squeeze in a little bit of extra work.

I want to avoid the patterns of last week and set out to be more productive this week in my work duties, household chores, and fitness. I’ve been reflecting on why I felt my productivity level was low last week. I think it correlates with my lower level of physical activity and staying up later at night. I really need to start getting in the habit of creating a to-do list that I review constantly. I’ve used variations of a to-do list in the past, and I know that they work. I just need to stop being lazy.

With yesterday’s post in mind, I focused on minimizing distractions and felt satisfied with the amount of work I could get done for a Friday. There are two things I was working on today that could be improved by creating a checklist for myself to ensure efficiency and uniformity going forward.

After work, we had Korean Barbecue for dinner. The most noteworthy part of the dinner for me was the cold noodles towards the end. I’ve had different types of cold noodles in the past, but these were the first I’ve had that were truly cold: as in there was ice in the broth. The flavor was slightly sweet and unique. It was a little strange for me to have soup with ice in it, but I would have it again.

I like to write about when I’m feeling productive and when things go great because I put in the hard work. However, it is also important to note the times when you don’t quite meet your expectations.

The last few days, I haven’t been as focused and productive as I strive to be. I tend to procrastinate most when I have a lighter workload and no crazy deadlines. It seems counterintuitive, but that’s my nature. So this week, I could have used the extra time to catch up on routine land lesser tasks. Instead, I spent time looking up random stuff on the internet and reading a bunch of articles. To top it all off, I even exercised far less than I did last week. So I’m ready to write these last few days off and wake up tomorrow with a renewed focus.

In one of my moments of procrastination, I spent more time than I am willing to admit looking at small towns in Northern California that I’d like to visit someday. I found a few places along beautiful highways that I’d like to eventually see on a road trip. It got me longing for a nice vacation exploring California.

In another moment, I found a way to repair a keyboard cover for an older 9-inch iPad I rarely use now. It works perfectly fine, and now that the keyboard cover stays on, I have a very portable device for my light typing needs. In fact, I am using it now to write this post. It still amazes me to think of all the money I wasted buying one device after another in pursuit of the latest and greatest.

Writing about Kintsugi got me thinking about Japan, which isn’t challenging to get me to do. So when I was browsing through the websites of local opera companies and orchestras, I inevitably ended up watching Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. To say I became a little nostalgic would be an understatement. I can hardly wait to be back inside an opera house or a concert hall, but it looks like that won’t be happening until Autumn later this year. I hope that one day I meet a friend who shares the same passion for opera that I have the way the former Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Antonin Scalia shared a love of opera.