It's Really Starting to Come Together
I just need to get the support of my local insects...
I don’t know exactly when it happened. Sometime last week, while I was practicing, I took a deep breath, relaxed, kept my head up, and just wrote. I trusted my fingers to be on the right keys, and they were. Instead of being tense and struggling to hit the right keys, my fingers somehow just knew where to be. Not 100% of the time; I still made mistakes, but I went from looking down at my keyboard every few seconds to feeling more comfortable not looking. I went from hesitating and trying to remember the proper brief for a particular phrase to just writing it. I know this is the result of regular, steady practice, but that moment when I realized it was happening — it was magic!
Once I realized I could write without looking at my hands and double-checking myself constantly, I decided to stop wasting time doing several run-throughs before even attempting to output to Realtime Coach. Although I always translate in realtime, I wasn’t always connecting to Realtime Coach on every take. Now, I do: because I realized that I’m managing 90% accuracy or better on the first run-through, and in most cases, it’s only taking me 2-3 attempts to get to 95% or better.
Not always. Today, I had one heck of a time on one particular exercise, and I had to redo it about 17 times before I finally got it. But I got it. Despite having one hand completely swollen and itchy and sore…
Today was a rough day. I start my work day at 4 am, work until it’s bright enough to see outside and then I take an hour to exercise. I don’t do pushups or run or use machines or any other traditional forms of working out; I get out my Makita string trimmer and clear brush. I live in a rural area, we have some land, and as we don’t have cows or goats to crop the grass, I take care of that task. I enjoy it, it helps keep us safer from fire danger, and it’s a great full-body workout.
Did you know that some wasps build their nests underground? I learned that when I was whacking around an oak tree, and suddenly felt burning pain in my left leg, my belly and my right hand. I looked down, saw yellow and black flying things and immediately turned around and walked away as quickly as I safely could. I was on a steep hill, so I needed to be cautious about my footing as I retreated. Fortunately, I didn’t get stung more than those three times.
I don’t have allergies, but that doesn’t make the stings no big deal. They’re swollen, sore, and hot and itchy as heck. I’m hoping I can sleep tonight and that I can find the knuckles on my right hand tomorrow!
Ice packs are wonderful things.
I’m nearly finished with Theory I, and less than two weeks away from starting Theory II. Assuming the wasps and ants and other local hazards don’t overwhelm me, I should be on my way to speedbuilding in a couple months!