Things have been looking good. I’ve been going to physical therapy for my hamstring and I can already fell the improvements. It will be some time before I get the go ahead to put my running shoes back on, so in the meantime, I’ve beefed up my weight training and added yoga to my regiment. Yeah, yoga. Let’s talk about yoga for a minute. If you asked a year ago if I would ever consider trying yoga, I would have said “no way”. Here I am one year later all twisted up like a pretzel. And I’ll tell you another thing, I really like it. I honestly can say I feel incredible after a yoga session. Not only that, this particular routine I’m doing focuses heavily on meditation. Multiple positive anyone? Then again, all yoga may focus heavily on meditation for all I know.

My Russian has been improving steadily too. Not only have I been doing my lessons on a regular basis, but I’ve been finding ways to incorporate the language throughout my day. For example, I often answer my co-workers questions in Russian. It only pisses them off a little. I also only count in Russian. I’ll do this a lot when I’m working out, counting reps or tracking time. It’s a great way to keep my mind thinking Russian.

I may be getting a new Camera too. My 10D has had quite a bit of dust on the mirror for the last year and every attempt I’ve made to remedy this problem has failed. This includes spending $75 to send it to Canon directly. Well, I’ve decided to cut my losses and buy the new Rebel XSi (12.2mp) when it comes out in April. It’s about time I upgraded anyways. I’ll keep you posted, but hopefully I’ll start taking significantly more photos after I make the plunge.

I’ve been doing a lot of writing too. Actually, I never really stopped. I write in my journal at least once a week, but more often several times a week. These entries can range anywhere from day to day activities, thoughts and ideas, character development, random lists, just about anything that pops into my mind. It’s oddly liberating to get all your ideas out of you head and into written form. I highly recommend it.

Python and music are next on my list. I plan to do some coding tomorrow morning when I get up. In all fairness, a lot of my time has been spent reading lately. Currently I’m in the middle of two great books; The Victorian Internet and Ben Franklin: An American Life. Both are really fascinating.

I’ve also been watching some of the open courses Yale is offering. Specifically, Professor Kagan’s Philosophy course on death. This is what makes the Internet great, free knowledge. I’m not watching online courses made specifically for the net, but an actual Yale course, taught at Yale, by an actual Yale professor, in front of a real Yale class. Life is good. I even have homework. I have to read Plato’s Phaedo before the next class.

Coincidentally enough, that link to Plato’s Phaedo takes you to M.I.T.’s site, another incredible organization that promotes free knowledge for everyone.

But now I’m just rambling, and I’m hungry, so it’s time to wrap this up.

It’s been quiet here at coldspeLL lately. I’m not going to lie to you, I’m in a major rut. Alas, the point of this blog is not to chronicle just the good times, but the not-so-good times too. It’s important to understand your dips so you can learn how to claw your way out of them. From April to October, I was a self-improving machine. I was highly focused and highly energized. Things started to fall apart right around November. I didn’t see it falling apart at the time..you never do..but looking back, I can see how my routine slowly decayed. That got me thinking about routines.. and water for that matter. Routines are a great tool to have, but the more rigid you make them, the more fragile they become. That’s what I think happened to me. The next routine I conjure up will be a lot less rigid and a lot more fluid..like water. I want to be able to change up my routine any time I have to with out throwing the entire process out of balance. Now I just have to figure out how to do that.

So what did happen? Where did it all go wrong for me? I think it really started when the cold weather set in. It’s very hard to get up at five in the morning when it’s two degrees out. It’s also pitch black until seven o’clock this time of year..so depressing! I found myself not getting up so much, and since a good chunk of my daily routine involved me getting up at the crack of dawn, the whole process suffered as a result.

Then, sometime in October I injured my hamstring. It wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t run on it, or at least that’s what I thought. I’m not, what one might call, an athletic person. I don’t have much knowledge of muscles and muscle groups and other such things. As my hamstring got worse, I would take a week off from running here and there. It never seemed to get better though. Then December came around and I decided not to run at all and see if it would eventually heal. It hasn’t.

Then came the holidays. My daily routine wasn’t very compatible with the holiday season. Especially the eating healthy foods part. Blah! The rest of my goals just fell apart after that. I all but stopped getting up early, which lead to less Python lessons and less meditation. Lack of running coupled with eating junk has taken a toll on my energy levels. Lack of energy had me opting to watch TV rather than read or study Russian. It was a nasty domino effect.

It’s not over yet, though. I’ve been reading a lot of the entries I made into my journal. Trying to remember what I did, how I felt, etc… It’s like getting advice from my past self. Then I remembered why everything worked for me. I started small. I need to get back to the basics. Back when I started all this I kept telling myself that anything was better than nothing. If I didn’t feel like exercising, I would just repeat that quote and commit to something lite, like ten push-ups. Ten isn’t much, but it was better than nothing. I used the same philosophy with my studies. Instead of studying a full section in my Python book, I might read a few Python blogs, or browse the Python forums. It’s not much, but it was better than nothing. This also helps to build confidence. Instead of giving in and not exercising at all, I would just lower the task and complete it. A completed task is a victory, at least on a subconscious level.

I also love Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan. Those three words have motivated me more than any other three words I can think of. “Just Do It”. So I did. And I kept on doing it.

Now I just have to do it again. Stay tuned…