Opening thoughts

I’m overall very satisfied with my life this month, even through it’s ups and downs. Thanks to my goals being achieved, there is a lot of cognitive load that disappeared from my mind. I can just focus on a few things at a time.

N2 JLPT Result

It kind of slipped my mind but the JLPT July 2026 results are finally published online. Somehow I passed despite guessing 7 reading questions. What surprised me even more is the fact that my reading is a higher score than language knowledge (vocabulary + grammar). I thought my grammar was good though (and to be fair, reference information did show my grammar as A, which means I got two thirds of the grammar questions correct), so I suspect that my vocabulary is the limiting factor.

I did say I want to retake the N2 if I got a score under 112, just for the sake of CEFR B2. I don’t think I will be taking it this December though, because there is something else I’m aiming for that needs studying and prep. I’m not sure by then if I’m prepared to do more intense Japanese language study sessions before December.

For now I’ll just take the win & wait for my N2 certificate.

Chunithm: Rating 17 Achieved

I just got my 17 rating today, despite my resolution is to get 16.5. I’m very happy, but I think I will stop grinding chunithm for the time being, due to burnout, plateau, and wanting to return back to basics / strengthen my foundation first. The journey to 17.25 is a very uphill battle, daresay twice as hard as the journey from 0 to 17. Also a new version is going to come out, and with the release of a new version (likely this year) my rating will get nuked (the new charts are transferred over to the old charts).

Will I keep playing Chunithm even after finishing their “ultimate event” (equivalent of KALEIDXSCOPE in maimai)? Most likely yes, but I don’t want to push my rating. I want to play for fun. Grinding is only fun if your rating goes up, so plateau sessions really hit hard.

PIU Rating System Overhaul

Pump It Up had a rating system overhaul, where intermediate / advanced / expert titles are now tied to a rating instead of “clear X songs at Y level”. The side effect of this is that I can get Advanced Lv.1 simply from playing level 16-17 songs. Mission accomplished I guess?

Yet Another Running Regression

My last serious run was at Indonesia’s Independance Day, on August 17th. I ran 8.1 km (because it is the 81st anniversary), with a pace of 8'17" (because August 17th).

After that, I had to accompany my mother getting surgery on the 20th, so I had to stay a few nights there (19-21).

Since then, I think the fatigue of training (weekly run mileage of above 15km) + not being able to sleep on hospital room couch really took a toll on me.

I felt weak afterwards & can’t be bothered to run. I’m starting to run again, with today’s run being 5km.

I really don’t want to measure my body weight, waist size & blood pressure, because the cumulative stress made me relapse to my bad habits 😱

Not sure if I will join a 10km race before the end of this year. Really depends on my friends because joining a race alone is not something I would like to do.

Closing thoughts

Depending if my friend wants to or not, I might want to join a 10K race on November. For now, I will resume my training to continue my weight loss journey. Other than that, I’ll just take things a bit easier, and have my PoE friends carry my last 2 challenges 😆