I notice I have cyclic interests

Posted: - Modified: | learning

I learn about some topics in sprints, then let them go for a bit, and then come back to them. For example, my time logs for Emacs show:

  • June 2012
  • Mid-March to mid-April 2013
  • April-June 2014

2014-06-23 20_42_29-Emacs - quantified awesome

Oh. Actually, that's an interestingly seasonal pattern. I hadn't realized that the months lined up like that. (Although to be fair, I probably wasn't tracking it as a category before May 2012, and it's only very roughly lined up.) I wonder what it is…

Anyway, I feel myself shifting temporarily to other things. I know I'll be back, but it's just not at the forefront of my mind.

What am I thinking about instead? What am I learning more about? What am I spending more time on? Oh, the sparklines are surprisingly useful. I can just scroll down looking for patterns. Non-Emacs coding, apparently. Learning about other things. Playing video games, relaxing. Gardening. I'm spending nowhere near as much time biking as I used to, but I do spend more time walking.

Where would I like to direct my shifting interests and attention? I want to focus on building solid habits around health and fitness. That's probably 15-30 minutes of exercise a day and preparing even better food (salads, variety). Once I've internalized those, I think I might circle back to Latin (I can mostly remember the declensions now, although I still make errors), and maybe either Japanese (so I can read and listen) or Cantonese (so that I can chat with W- and with the fellow gardener up the street). There's drawing practice, too. Time to swing non-technical or non-computer-based for a bit? Hmm…

Fortunately, taking lots of notes along the way helps. I'm sure I'll be back to this someday!

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