It's a warm day in a cold climate / Day Eleven

Man, it has been warm as hell for the past 2 days. Not as hot back in Singapore, but still warm enough to make anyone sweat by standing in the sunlight for 2 minutes. About as ironic as my current situation.

I tried to kill time by sleeping all the way into the afternoon. Not a good idea, sleeping too much makes me all nihilistic and apathetic, and cripple my mental capabilities. Somehow sleeping for extended hours makes me even more drowsy, having a disgusting feeling gnawing at my chest. I am not going to indulge in sleeping ever again. 7 hours or so is the optimum, but I feel that 4 or 5 works very well for me. I feel truly awake and have the ability to see everything clearly, physically and mentally. I'm going to try and adjust to a dual-phrasic sleeping schedule when I get back.

HermanRi now has 1100 SP. Wee. GF has been going very well for now...until I got burnt. I should have expected burnout from 3 straight days of play, each with 10 or more credits (That's 40 plus songs on Battle). What's more, I have been pushing the limit way overboard. It was from 70+ all the way to 90 now. I have definately learnt techniques that normally take months of play by luck. So here's what I think are the rules for fast improvement are.

1. Constantly pushing against the flow
I have been an idiot to keep playing the same songs, thinking it will help. I got myself stuck at the 60+ level. Constantly playing songs above your level means you get to improve your technique in general.
2. Screw Extra Stage.
Likewise, I got obsessed over getting Extra Stages. Not that I can get Encore/Premium, but the idea of getting one more stage was too awesome. Except for the fact that I waste 3 stages playing songs that I can already play. Now I use Battle to play all the shit I can never play and to get 4 stages.
3. Know when to stop
I didn't. Now I got burnt. Not surprisingly since I play ten or more credits in a row, except for the occational cigarette break (Don't smoke straight after one, screws up performance). Signs of burnout include missing easy parts, needing to strain to catch parts that you can normally catch and hand/finger pains.
4. Do not get attached to the outcome
Here's the Zen part about GF. The less you care about how much combo you get or how much you are leading the battle, the better you do. Less things on your mind means more concentration. This also means not getting fustrated at missing a 'S' score or failing. Failing to meet goals are part of becoming a master.
5. Beware of death traps
These refer to under-rated songs or songs that just need hi-level technique to perform, like the hyper-pick from R#1 Guitar/Open ADV/EXT or the middle part of Captivate Bass ADV/EXT. These songs are useless except for skill measure or technique perfection (R#1 for hyper-pick). Stay away otherwise.

I'm going to fast from GF for 3 days to get rid of the mental fog and for rest.

I also went out for dinner with some friend of my father's. A nice lady who's a professor at some university. It was boring with all the standard formal talk about family and reminscence. I honestly didn't care about what happened 20 years ago or what she did, but I had to be all nice and smile. Now I know how tiring it is to entertain someone.

I thought about my current situation for a long time last night. Eric Cartman would always make the best out of a bad situation, so I have to find some way to kill off time in a productive manner. I have decided to continue in my epic quest of exploring all the train stops that are under the Line Pass area (That means once I buy the pass, I can travel unlimited times in that area for a day). Might as well take this chance to scout for next year's solo trip. If Life gives me lemons, I don't make lemonade. I would take a freshly-cut lemon wedge and shove it into Life's face and start blackmailing. Screw the idea that I'm supposed to follow princess around and watch her try clothes on. I'm going on my own adventure. Follow if you wish, but don't complain if you can't catch up.