What Should I Say?

Today is October 26, 2022.

I’m going to call this a welcome back post – I haven’t touched this blog in a very long while.  Very long.

A lot has changed since I last wrote here.  I don’t really MMO anymore – a big change from when I was raiding multiple times a week and playing multiple games.  If there’s any MMO I’m touching right now, it’s Final Fantasy XIV and that’s because it’s an MMO game that you can pretty much play solo these days, which has a Square Enix story with Square Enix graphics.

I still play video games, but not nearly as much as previously, either.  I’m trying to get back into building models (Gundam stuff mostly), and painting miniatures (my thanks to Angel Giraldez and Jon Bius for great online resources for both hobbies).  But all these hobbies, I did before.

What are the biggest changes since I last wrote here?

First and foremost, I’m now a cyclist.  Not a racer, but I am an avid road rider.  About 6-1/2 years ago, I bought my first road bike (a Fuji Sportif, equipped with Sora 9-speed components), and now I ride a Trek Emonda, carbon, with second-gen Dura Ace components (the stuff the pros rode with at the time), a power meter, and over 15,000 miles ridden since starting.  I also work at a bike shop as a weekend mechanic, too, and lead group rides for the shop (much less stressful than raid leading on WoW).  So, yeah, it’s a major change to my life – and the 25-30 lbs. difference in my physique, my health numbers getting better, and my athletic ability going up are all boons gained from this.  I highly recommend it to everyone looking for a relatively easy-to-get-into athletic activity.  (Just understand it’s not an inexpensive activity – there’s a reason I work at a bike shop now.)

Second, that athletic ability increase is going into a second sport – indoor racquetball – which is netting me more athletic improvement, faster reflexes, tender joints (from time to time) and some bruising from errant racquetballs.  It’s a fun and sometimes cathartic activity, though it has highlighted some slightly darker parts of my personality which I now acknowledge, and try hard to work to control.  (My little brother would love to hear me say that – he grew up as the “one with the temper”.)

Next on the list – Amazon has come a long way since posting here last, and because of it, testing and taxing my Japanese language skills has gotten somewhat easier and cheaper than it used to be.  The “light novel” has become a very prolific publication in mainstream Japanese pop culture, and the shelves of purchases that I’ve made can attest to it.  They’re not easy reading, but it’s helped my language skills develop greatly as, unlike manga, my previous main source of study material, there is much more non-verbal text to work with – which reads very differently.  Also the average series is over 10 books long, and I own at least two series that are over 30 books long, so I won’t run out of stuff anytime soon.  Time is a different story, but I digress.

And now we get to the main reason I’m dusting off this old blog.  Given the name and theme of this blog – progression – I felt it’s the best tool for making myself accountable for trying to stick to working on a hobby.  Where initially progression was getting through a particular raid zone, now it’s about actually making progress in a ‘real-world’ (? – I mean, raiding wasn’t exactly fake progression based on how much time and effort it took, but this seems more tangible…) activity.  Music.

This isn’t my first foray into music.  Not counting the kids’ choir stuff I did in grade school, which frankly, didn’t really feel like learning music to me, I have some experience, having been taught a few years of violin.  I didn’t really do it justice though, through lack of practicing and taking some of the opportunities to play in group settings for granted.  (I’m sorry!)  But fast forward about 8 years, and the bug has bitten me again, but not so much for violin.  (Not that I wouldn’t mind going back and getting better on it, but it’s not my focus right now.)  This time it’s band music – like pop/rock band music.

I can blame anime for most of it.. With shows like K-On!, BanG Dream, Fuuka, and other shows telling stories of characters being bitten by the same band bug, and working up to playing in actual bands on stage, it’s hard not to see it as possible.  Further, seeing the people bringing those characters to life actually performing (such as Roselia, Poppin’ Party, Morfonica, and Raise A Suilen from BanG Dream), I find it even more inspiring, as most of the performers are not musicians first.  And with the variety of instruments in the bands  – guitars, basses, keyboards, drums, and even violin (thanks to Morfonica) – there are a lot of options to learn.  And in traditional ME fashion, I want to learn them all.

But I know myself.  Practice is something that I can’t always get myself to do.  So I’m going to use this for what I started out using this for – a progression record – only not for raiding.  This is where I’m going to talk about my progress on things I’m actively working on.  Most of what this will be will likely be music, but with all the hobbies listed above, I’ve got a lot of things to work on.

Japanese?  I graduated with a minor in it from university, and I can’t really even read a pop novel.  That’s going to change.

Cycling?  The whole COVID thing coupled with bad winter weather made me lazy, and over a year later I’m still trying to get my conditioning back.

Racquetball?  My game is ok at best, and meh on most days.  Also, my attitude can really suck.  Stuff to work on.

Models and minis?  I think my actual productivity is less than one model/miniature a year, for all the years that I’ve collected them, which is impressive given my collection.  Perfectionism sucks and it’s got to go.

Guitar and Bass?  I’m not sure what there is that I don’t need to work on, but I’m getting closer to being able to fumble through my first full song, and it’s only taken a year and change.

And drums and keyboard aren’t anywhere really on my close-range radar, and I want them to be.

So I have a lot to work on.  And this is me telling myself to get out there and do it.  Quincy Jones called it “Ass Power”.  It’s the ability to get your ass in the chair and do what you need to do to improve.  And he said that it was what Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, had that most of the other people Jones produced in his career didn’t.

Ass power.

I can’t think of a better way to put it.  So consider this my declaration to get my ass in the chair and do, rather than say “I will”.

いつかも今日も同じ
やるかやらないか…

[Someday and today are the same, it’s just whether you do it or not…] – “Itsuka Dekiru kara Kyou Dekiru” (Nogizaka46)

My 2 yen,

Akiosama

I Have No Idea Why I Feel Like Saying This…

…but vote. It’s a right and a privilege and it shouldn’t be wasted. Democrat or Republican, Libertarian or Green… Vote.

Don’t take it for granted.

My 2 yen,

Akiosama