Last day of May!

I somehow ended up sleeping at 3:30 and waking up at 7:30. It's little wonder how I managed to function today...

Went to karate, then to volunteering and the home. I was quite exhausted so I ended up sleeping for about an hour or so.

Woke up and realized that I had marking to do.

Did about half it, and decided to call it a day...

Just a month to go now... >_>

Friday Grad, Saturday Cardio

The Yesterday was grad night for the grade 9s. It was a pleasant event in which I learned a new dance move!

As for today, I went to school to finish up the last ever science and math unit test for this year. Afterwards, I went to do some cardio.

And once again, I ended up not doing any marking. Good thing for Sunday's I suppose.

Double chocolate protein shake with double scoops?

Extremely quick day...

A full day for me today, though it went by EXTREMELY quickly. A good feeling I guess?

Nothing out of the ordinary happened at work. I got my work done, finished prepping for tomorrow, and went home to prepare for my workout. Dead lifts were painful, thus I didn't dare go past 2 plate 25. After about 4-5 sets, it was off to decline bench. And then back, abdominal and.. I think that's it.

Pretty exhausted though, so I'm looking forward to a break!

Tried playing through the first page and a half at around 80% speed. Messy, though almost audible. Practiced the difficult sections again on the 3rd page. Proceeded to the second theme, and went further than before. 

Athletic Award Banquet

Day 6 at my school, which meant I had a prep and a half today. It turned out to be a lot busier than I thought it would be, and it was the night of the Athletic Awards.

Somehow I survived in one piece. The Athletic Award Banquet (I think that's what its called) was a great event. It was great to see students go up and win awards for the hard work they put into their season. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but I was particularly impressed with my badminton team. To be honest, I didn't have high hopes since the other schools had all sort of club players and other students that'll play hours and hours of badminton. Nevertheless, we did pretty well and exceeded my expectations.

Despite being a long day, it went by very quickly! That means we're so much closer to exams... =/

Got the right hand for the third page at about 20% tempo. Went on and practiced the 2nd theme. Such a beautiful theme. I believe I got it at around 30% tempo (since there's no crazy 16th note passages).

I had something to blog about, but I forgot...

Totally forgot what I wanted to blog about today...

Oh, and for those who are wondering, I still practice Chopin's Ballade, just that I haven't been inputting what I've done to date. Essentially, practicing the three pages to get it up to aroudn 40% speed.

I was just reading an old blog post from last month, and I realized that was when I started squatting two plates. I managed to do 1 or 2 sets of 2 shaky reps. As for today, I was able to put in about 3-4 sets of 3 reps at 90 degrees.

Improvement in my books! =)

Other than that, this week is blazing by too! Better organize myself so I can finish the school year off in one piece!

Rekd

Bought some snacks for the Canteen/cafeteria at my school... found out that one of them was broken.

Could only do one rep of 3 plates today...

Lost in LoL...

I complain too much. 

Other than that, it was a pretty ordinary day at work. Everyone is getting restless for summer break. 

Including myself... almost done!

Finally got my Rathian Plate

It took me a while to get my Rathian plate to upgrade one of my dual blades in MH4U. Granted, it probably only took me about 6-7 tries to get it, so it's not too bad.

Besides MH4U, I managed to finish my marking that I had set aside for today. Finally, I managed to get a couple of LoL games in, with our last match being quite intense. I didn't expect to come back in an ARAM game with no inhib while the other side had everything intact. 

I guess that tells you that you should never give up till the very end. 

Nanoblocks

Went to teach piano in the morning before coming home to build a nanoblock model I received as a gift. Never heard of them before, but it's essentially Lego; just with much smaller pieces. 

I was too lazy to work out so I ended up spending most of my afternoon working on Dragonite. It took me about two hours in total to build the Pokémon. There were certain sections in which I got confused, thus having to backtrack the work that I initially did. 

After building Dragonite, I went out to catch up with a couple of friends before ending my night with a bunch of LoL. 

Productive indeed, though marking will be fun tomorrow...

My brother built the Snorlax one. It's quite detailed! I'll have to go pick some more up when I go back again!

Jeans too lose!

It's been a while since I wore my Gap jeans (since all my other jeans have the brand on the back) to work. I believe the last time was in late 2014...

Anyways... I lost a bit more weight than I thought I did. My jeans didn't fit at all! They kept slipping down my waist, and my belt wasn't really helping. It's probably time to buy a smaller size pair of jeans!

No piano either today! Got to put in the practice hours tomorrow somehow.

Sore wrist

My left wrist has been a bit sore since yesterday. Not sure what caused the pain/weakness, though it'll probably go away after some time. It's not the first time I experienced sore wrists.

The week is going by so quickly! It's a good, yet at the same time, a bad thing. Good in that it's almost summer! Bad, in that exams are coming up! I feel more stressed as a teacher during exam time than as a student.

Due to coming home late after my workout today, I didn't find time to practice the piano. Strange, that I practice more now than when I was a student. I used to practice 30 minutes on Friday night, the night before my piano lesson...

Demolition Blade

Finally got my demolition blades for MH4U! Blast may not be as OP as slime, back in MH3U, yet it is still quite deadly.

Besides that, it was a typical day at school. One class was giving me more trouble than normal, but I guess it's due to school ending soon.

Got in a solid 20 minutes! Went through the third page very slowly... probably 44-50 bpm. Lots of accidentals that makes the passage quite difficult to play. Other than that, the first page and a half is sufficiently smooth in terms of keeping with the metronome at largo. I had some time, so I fiddled around with the second theme again.

For those of you who are not familiar with the piece

18 note passage

A certain section on the second page had 18 notes within the bar. Took me a while to get it down, but I finally got it! A lot easier than Fantasie Impromptu! Other than that, I continued to work on the timing of the first two pages. Curiosity got the better of me, so I skipped the difficult third page and proceeded to the second theme on the next page, to the key change first theme. I'll be sure to practice the 3rd page tomorrow!

Other than practicing the Ballade, nothing out of the ordinary happened today. Tried a new chicken restaurant, which turned out to be alright for its price.

And off to some MH4U before sleep! Hopefully I'll be able to upgrade my Dios Slicer+ soon! 

Victoria Holiday 2015

Once again, I woke up a lot later than what I expected. I wolfed down breakfast, got a hair cut, and went to work out.

Upon coming home, I got through my marking, finished an activity right up and homework check, and enjoyed the rest of my day!

In terms for Chopin's Ballade, I read an interesting article online written by The Guardian's Editor: Alan Rusbridger. He learned the piece over the period of a year (or a bit more if I'm not mistaken) and documented his journey. (If i read it correctly).

I guess I should do the same! I'll write in italics to to distinguish the different sections of my blog posts.

Went through the first page and a half today. Beginning was simple enough for both hands, though I was not able to play at Moderato for the first theme. Playing with the metronome at around bpm=48.

And that's my day today!

A challenge like none other

A couple weeks after watching Your Lie in April, I started taking up the piano again.

I thought, why waste the skills I learned and honed (somewhat halfheartedly on my part) over 15 years go to waste. The piano I played as a volunteer doesn't really count, because I don't consider it as practice if I just sight read everything. 

I credit my sight-reading abilities to my lack of practicing skills... which in turn forced me to "fake" my way through my lessons. I'm quite sure that all of my previous piano teachers caught onto it really quickly though. =P

It started off with learning Debussy's Clair de Lune, a relatively calming piece that helped me get back into the piano.

And now for this challenge 

I will learn this piece! Besides sheer will, I need to encourage myself to learn this "beast" of a piece. I think it'll be one of the hardest pieces I ever tried to play (besides Prokofiev's Devilish Inspirations... which was a disaster for my exam).

Perhaps, daily journal articles on my progression?

Long Weekend Snow

It started off as rain.

Went to teach piano, go work out, and come home and sit here, practically doing nothing.

And then it started to snow...

Good thing it's relatively warm, thus the snow melted almost instantaneously. 

Gah, boring blog post. >_>

Long weekend!

The end is near! I can smell it... Well almost!

Half day at work, so I was able to go home earlier than normal on a Friday. I skipped my workout today to detail a car instead. 

Tired now, but a good start to the werkend!

It fits!

I went shopping for a camera bag yesterday. It was extremely expensive and it didn't fit my camera fortunately! I went to return it today and purchased another one from a different store. 

It fits my T3i well with an attached 24-105! And literally half the price!

I think it'll be ready for summer! ^_^

I didn't know that BoA released her 8th Album...

It's hard to believe that I used to be such a big fan of BoA...

I haven't gotten a chance to listen to all of her new songs on the album today, though a couple of them are sticking out for me.

If I'm not mistaken, she should have produced/composed a lot of her tracks. 15 years and counting!

Snow!

White flakes fell today.
Contrast strongly with black asphalt
Gone very quickly.

Sad Marks

Marked exams today.
Some good, but some very bad.
Sad teacher face now.

(I'm not sure why I'm writing Haiku...)

Awfully boring Saturday

Woke up late this morning.
Played games and did nothing else.
Today was boring.

Hat Day

Today marked Hat Day at our school, where everyone wears a hat to show awareness of mental health issues.

Unfortunately, unlike last year, not everyone in my class wore a hat. =(

Other than that, it was an another typical day at work. The end is near, but there's just so mush to do still! Fortunately, I have a double prep tomorrow morning so I'll be able to get some things done that I've been putting off over the past couple of weeks.

Omg...

MH4U can be utter BS at times. 

I get up after hit, just to get knocked out by a flying boulder. Talk about bad luck. Then I was knocked by a Stygian Zinogre, just to have myself roll into his black flip. 

>_>

Besides my frustration, new party in Alberta. I didn't expect the NDP to win, but I'm interested to see how Alberta pans out. 

Assassination Classroom

Heard about the live action movie for the series, Assassination Classroom, since it features ex-Kara Jiyoung.

I stumbled upon the anime today. I have to say that it started off strong!

It's essentially about a... thing with a motive to destroy the earth in a year's time. In the meanwhile, he teaches a class (apparently a weak/struggling class) about life, while the class is trying to assassinate him.

Very interesting plot line.

Tired Sunday

Couldn't fall asleep till around 3ish this early morning... and then I woke up at around 7:30ish for karate.

Was I tired. =/

Besides karate, I had volunteering today. Nothing out of the ordinary. I managed to finish my marking when I got home and prepped a bit for a minerals lab that I haven't tried before. =/

Hopefully it'll go well tomorrow! I tried imagining different scenarios, though I don't think it'll be that difficult of a lab tomorrow.

We'll have to wait and see!

The days are flying by...

It wasn't a productive day, yet it went by so quickly! I got up early to exercise, hoping that the gym would be quieter in the morning.

It was pretty quiet, but all the racks were taken, thus leaving us to work on upper body for today. After working out, it was off for a small bowl of pho. (Haven't had one of those in a while).

In the afternoon, I got some marking done before heading out to look at show homes. It's going to take a while, but I hope to save up enough money to put a decent down payment in the next couple of years!

And then it was back home to practically do nothing (save marking... in which I only have a bit left to do for tomorrow!)

And somehow, it's almost 2 AM here. Where did they day disappear to?

First day of May

The year is flying by so quickly! So much to do in the last two months (more like month and a half), that the stress is starting to creep up early.

Anyways, typical Friday. Went in, had a bunch of tests today and got out to work out. After hitting the gym, it was off to window shop (can't afford many things now a days =/ ) and eat.

And that is all.

Now what can I do to spice up my blog...