Some thoughts

I’ve stumbled across this video and I think it is something worth thinking about. How many things can you balance in your life before suffering from burnout or having to let go some parts of your passion?

  • Career/job is something that obviously is a part of most people’s lives. No job, no income, no food.
  • Family is also something non negotiable unless you really want to cut off your family ties once and for all. I feel like cutting off family connections is a one and done thing, where I don’t think it is possible to mend. I’m single, so I can’t fathom the stress of other people having their own families on top of their existing families (sandwich generation).

Outside of those two is probably personal hobbies. Unfortunately if you ask me my hobbies, they require consistency:

  • Learning Japanese. Everyday I try to:
    • Read & listen to an article in Japanese using this site
    • Do daily Anki vocabulary & grammar flashcards
    • Write a diary, but I’ve actually dropped this
  • Running. I try to run on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while doing some resistance training on Tuesday and Thursday.

Outside of those I also have some “seasonal” things to do:

  • Play rhythm games, probably one of my only sources of joy, but on weekends the mall/arcade gets very crowded so I just go there in the morning & play until lunchtime starts
  • Do a few leetcode questions because I want to reapply to Japanese companies again on August (oh my god tomorrow is August)
  • Personal coding project practice in Java that I’ve currently stopped because if I fail the CV screening / online coding test section then my prep ends up being useless

Consistency is key, but too much daily things to do turns my daily life into a checkbox instead of actually living.

But I do see a light at the end of the tunnel, because whether I get rejected or accepted, my self-imposed daily to-do list will be shorter.

N2 JLPT Experience

So the JLPT was conducted on the 5th of July, 2026. To be completely honest, I am screwed. 7 out of 21 reading questions were pure random because I ran out of time. By the time the proctor said 15 minutes left, I still had 9 questions (5 whole reading sections), so I knew I definitely do not have enough time.

GG go next I guess, we try again this December. Unless by some miracle my score is somehow 112/180 or higher. I doubt it though.

Body weight progress

My body weight is now hovering around the 67.5-68 kg range, but it just won’t go lower than that. I’ll just keep doing my best to maintain a calorie deficit by increasing my calorie usage (running on running days, walking on resistance training days)

Running progress

I did say I want to run a 10K race this year, so this month I did a 10km run on the 10th of July. I did complete it, with a time of 1:16:38. Then on a different long run, I got carried away and ended up doing another full 10K with a time of 1:13:34. Still far from my target of 1:05:00 though.

Future plans

  • As I said, I planned to reapply to Japanese companies starting this August. If I get rejected, at least I tried.
  • I’m pretty sure I failed the N2, but I stil want to see my results first. In the meantime, I will keep on doing anki & reading Japanese articles to polish my vocabulary.
  • Path of Exile 1 version 3.29 came out on the 24th of July, which kind of threw a wrench in my plans because I do want to have some enjoyment in my life as well. I have to balance my healthy habits and “unhealthy” habits for now.