Push day went better than expected; i think the week's absence served as a kind of deload, to give my muscles enough time to rest and come back stronger. most significantly, my bench press weight increased by 5kg to 50kg total (although i still failed the last rep of the last set), and the other weights either went up or maintained. had a bit of problem with the shoulder press though, so i regressed to seated dumbbell, which is easier. compensated by doing more reps, so i guess that's ok? i'll have to see how next week's session goes. initially, i thought i didn't do enough as i wasn't sweating as much, but i know better after coming home and finding myself unable to lift my arms up fully in the shower. think it might be a shoulder mobility thing too.

as you may know, i resubbed to final fantasy earlier in the month for the valentine's day event. and since i had spare time during CNY, i caught up on the story quest, raids, basically everything. my gear is still not top-tier yet, but i'm getting there. i realize how much of a time sink gaming is. good thing i've downgraded myself to super casual player; i simply can't imagine spending the day working, then going to gym in the evening, and coming home to raid. i also realize that i prefer tactile switches when gaming. linear switches are supposed to be more sensitive, but that translates into fairly frequent mis-presses for me. don't think i'm bothered enough to change my office and home keyboards, but the thought did cross my mind.

things are happening at work...i'm grappling with a few cases that are a little annoying scientifically, but extremely annoying legally. and between legal and scientific, i'm weaker in legal. but i figure it's part of learning. i'll have to make my own decisions someday, when i'm allowed to send reports out without going through my group lead. i wonder how the seniors got the confidence to send reports out independently? separately, there's going to be an organizational reshuffle. there's a small chance that i may be affected in that my division lead may change. there are 3 possibilities of who the new division lead may be. (1) my current one, and i'd be happy to remain with him; (2) a newly-promoted senior, who's easygoing and with whom i'm sure i could work well; (3) the one division lead that i know i won't enjoy working under. it's probably not an even probability which one i'll go to, and my guess that i'll end up with #1 or #2. but here's hoping i don't jinx myself.

for some reason, i felt/feel my motivation drop a little this past week. not super sure why, but if i had to guess, i'd say accumulated fatigue took its toll. perhaps the semi-isolation over CNY allowed my mind to wander a little into dangerous territory as well. hoping that it was just a fleeting thing, and getting back into the regular routine will dispel that negativity. speaking of needing human contact, i've got a few events lined up this week. not going to bore you by repeating all of them, but i'm excited! it's been a while since i've seen the guildmates; i think the last time was at a random dinner last year? and even then, not everyone i know was present. we're expecting a larger turnout as it's a CNY dinner, and it would be nice to catch up with everyone again. oh! i didn't mention it in the last post, but i've got my JC class gathering on sunday. guess i left it out because sunday is 1 march, and thus not february any more. 20 years! where did all that time go? NS, undergrad, grad school, first job + depression + COVID period, JET, UK and job hunting, then current job. seems like i could have squeezed more events in there, but  things happen in their own time. i will say though, i think my life trajectory is one of the more interesting ones. probably only 2-3 people would have similarly/more varied experiences. but i could be wrong; that's why i'm looking forward to catching up with the 11 other people who are supposed to be going!

-random thought of the day: Shake the funk off!-