Regarding my progress for Friday:
My emotions frustrate my reason, but I would never wish to part with them. That doesn't mean that I don't wish to habituate myself to tend in various ways, Aristotle-style. I have a long, long way to go with my rigor. At least now I graduated to the next level.

3 lessons in French, weight at 171.8, 50% of a chapter, nearly complete on my wall/roof section, started preparing my list for model supplies, and assorted admin. I found out I have a 100% in one class and above 100% in the other.
I've observed a behavior in myself that I need to correct. I subconsciously pace myself so that I will finish exactly at the deadline. This sounds good, but it's not. The reason that's it's not good is that there are almost always unexpected challenges or things that take more time than anticipated. For example, if I plan to finish a drawing and build a model in one night, and I have from 5-10 to do it, and it's not quite 7 and I'm almost done my drawing, I'll slow down a little bit because I feel like I'm ahead and I can relax. Well, it's not quite that exactly, it's almost like an aesthetic thing, like I want to time my completion perfectly. Anyway, I slow down, and then the model ends up taking twice as long as I thought and I have to stay up late.
The solution is just to go for the jugular. I should come out of the gate with intensity, and knock that shit out just as fast as I can. Don't stop, don't hold back. This is what the Eagles needed to do more of early in the 06 season. They would do awesome and then kind of lose that urgency. And we saw what happened with that. I need to, as Brian Dawkins said, "fly to the rock, and hit cats in the mouth".

I'd like to revamp my blog both visually and in terms of the tools of analysis presented in each post. For the latter I would like to implement a template like the one Dan had for various virtues, except I would cover a broader range of things. To Derek and Dan: would either of you be willing, and have the time, to program a template if I sent you mock-ups of what I wanted visually?
Finished about a full chapter this morning, one long lesson in French, and weighed in at 171.8. I could have been more vigorous writing this morning, but it was good. Oh yeah, and I worked on my summer studio application for about an hour. I'm trying to find a Plato quote that's been eluding me, which is annoying, but I started on my resume.
I'm short on time because it's a Wednesday.

I'm still thinking about what type of rating/critique apparatus I want to use, if any. But regardless, starting tomorrow morning, if I post, I did my shit. That's the quantum leap. I'm not announcing completions, because that's the new minimum. Anything less, and I'm out of here, because I don't deserve to strive for greatness.

I'm going to implement a new system in the coming days. I want my blog time to simultaneously serve as truly productive self-reflection time, and in order for my time to be more self-reflective, I think my progress needs to be tracked in categories and in more concrete terms. I'm considering something like listing projects that are currently being worked on, their percentage completion, and the change in status for that day, kind of like a loading bar or something. Actually, let me step back for a second. I concluded that my striving falls into either the category of general moral behavior or productivity/achievement. Achievements would be tracked with the percentages. I don't know how I'm going to handle moral rating. Maybe a 1-x scale, or maybe a chart by virtue, like Dan used.
I finished watching My Architect for the second time, and it drives home the pathetic nature of my attempts up to now. Basically, I think we all need to make a quantum leap. Currently, the question is, "did you execute? Yes=good, No=Bad". Instead, we need to start asking, "is your execution optimal?" The question as to whether or not there was execution on any level is pathetic. That need not be a question; in other words, not doing something is simply not an option. Andy Reid can't turn to his staff, ask them to come up with free agency strategies, and then have them show up to their meeting without having completed the task. That's not even a fucking option. No one even wonders whether or not it will be completed. It will, but the question becomes, did you complete it as well as it could be completed within the given parameters? Same thing applies to any professional or serious setting. If you showed up to a review with Louis Kahn and you didn't finish...are you kidding me?
So for me, for example, I need to write. I shouldn't even post about that, because it should assumed. I need to complete my homework, as well as my French, and all my other projects. That should be assumed. The critique needs to shift to strategy and execution. The punishment for not programming because of comedy or something like that should be a lifetime sentence of being a fucking clerk or a programming monkey. One of my professors was telling me about someone who showed up to a review in grad school with only a partially completed project, and they gave him a quarter and told him to call his parents to let them know he wasn't going to be an architect and arrange for him to come home. That's the level that we aspire to, is it not? Do you think we're ever going to be Catos, or Kahns, or Ben Franklins by fucking around and wasting our relatively obligation-free days? No, that's a complete fucking joke. I don't think any of us even comprehend what it would be like to do the work that we're striving toward. I want to be better than Kahn, because I want to achieve that level of mastery, plus I want to be a good family man. So this is the quantum leap that needs to be happen before we can even talk about any kind of shit. I'm mentally bracing myself.

Outcome; "Win"
Record: 137-10
Streak: Won 19

Summary: Got up at 11:30, had pancakes, muffins, and coffee at a friend's house, read articles online, went for a walk in the snow, watched 400 Blows, read, made cheese fries and coconut stif-fry for dinner, and after this I'm going to drink hot chocolate and go to bed. It was a work-free and relaxation filled Sunday.

Week in Review: Bizarre things happened this week in terms of my energy levels. The only thing I can think of is that the car episode stressed me out, which led to me eating so-so in the middle of the week, which led to a slight but noticeable decline in energy, which freaked me out because I couldn't see why it was happening, which stressed me out more, which culminated in my near loss on Saturday. It's shitty because I feel like I'm on the cusp of being able to have an almost totally perfect week. I've achieved components off and on so far, and I don't see why I can't put them all together. Next week I'm primarily shooting for consistent excellence and pacing myself so that I'm still going strong from Wed-Sat.