So, last February and March I took a break during Ramadan from posting dance videos, and out of boredom I ended up writing and finishing my first novel, a trashy romance called “Northern Lad.” I looked into becoming a professional fiction writer, and I discovered Nicholas Erik's 2022 Double Your Productivity Crash Course: https://nicholaserik.com/double-your-productivity/

In the end, I decided to focus on my music and dance, but I did learn some useful concepts. In one section, he discusses the four types of objectives: long-term destinations, goals, projects, and micro-goals. I definitely agreed with him that time-bound goals can be counterproductive, because individual people progress differently, and those differences can depend on life seasons and artistic development stages. I personally find projects useful for developing skills and as proof of expertise. I've come to use micro-goals as the creative equivalent of the “sewing a handkerchief” meme. In my (aspirational) to-do lists, I set out tasks that move me towards finishing my projects, which in turn move me towards my long-term destinations. So this fall, I'm recording a backtrack or two during my non-college days of the week. I plan to use them for demos. I will be using the demos to apply for grants and opportunities, rehearse songs for livestreams and gigs, and develop into a professional album. I am hoping down the road to use my albums as a proof of expertise to find work as a musician in different ways.

One YouTuber I follow is Kelsey Rodriguez, who has become successful as a business coach for visual artists. In one of her videos she discusses a concept called the Energy Menu, which is especially relevant to chronically ill creatives, disabled creatives, and any creatives dealing with low energy issues. 

I haven't followed the details outlined in that video exactly, but I found the concept of an Energy Menu useful for dealing with the fluctuations of my energy. I have a habit of writing overly aspirational to-do lists, and it's taken me years to come to terms with the fact that some days I will be super-productive and be able to chop produce, clean my bedroom, clean the bathroom, do college homework, practice dance and conditioning, AND work on my music, all in the same day. And some days it's all I can do to watch the 27-second “Drumline” choreography performance talk by Ebony on Datura Online to keep up my 365 Day Streak to qualify for a year's free subscription to the online dance classes. Using the Energy Menu, each day I choose which tasks on my to-do list I feel up to doing. And my morning decision might change after a refreshing nap after lunch, or on the other hand if we've decided to run errands in our neighbourhood. 

I took notes on the first chapter of “Early Modern Europe 1450 - 1789”  (Third Edition) by Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, the textbook for my college course by that name. Among other things, it discusses what books sold well in Europe following Gutenberg's invention of the printing press (the European version). Religious treatises were popular, and were full of what the author calls “religious titillation”, all fire and brimstone, complete with gory illustrations. Novels and historical romances; “how-to” books, including health, finance, housekeeping, writing tips for love letters and business; pornography, cookbooks, travel guides; chapbooks and broadsides. Back then, of course, literacy was restricted mainly to urban men of means. Still, it's worth remembering that not much has changed in what sells well in the publishing world. It's legitimate to work for higher standards of reading and education. It is not legitimate to scold the 21st-century public as uniquely lowbrow/middlebrow readers compared to “the high culture of the good old days.”

I had my first volunteer training with the student union of my college in the afternoon. I went to the gym afterwards, and didn't warm up properly. I ended up only being able to do box squats with 10 lbs and RDLs with 2 x 10 lbs. I was feeling a strain in my left calf, so I skipped the other four lower-body exercises I had planned for today. I will be taking Saturday as a rest day, but hopefully I can work out next week.

Today was the first class of my Asian History: An Introduction course. Our instructor gave us, as our first reading, an essay discussing how the word “Asia” was imported by the Japanese from European usage as a way of creating solidarity among Asian nations starting in the 19th century. This is, of course, a simplification of the essay's argument. The essay is dense and difficult, and goes into detail about self-perceptions regarding civilization and geography in Chinese and Japanese culture from ancient times onwards, and the influences of European contact and colonialism. A lot of those details will probably become clearer once we actually get to reading about Chinese and Japanese history as the semester progresses, as well as Indian and Southeast Asian history. I'm looking forward to writing my movie review of Amrapali, the Bollywood historical epic starring Vyjanthimala and Sunil Dutt. My mother said she had watched the movie on TV when she was young. My instructor claims he owns the sole copy of the DVD in our province.