Summer and a New Initiative

I am upset that I have not been blogging regularly and have not edited and posted any of my pictures from my time in Prague with Trey and Shelby. I had a wonderful time catching up with them, and then I got to play both host and tourist in Wien when Trey came for a few days. I only wish that he was able to see the opera, but there is no music here in July, unfortunately. That trip was the highlight of an otherwise boring and slothful summer. I hardly practiced at all, and rarely even left my apartment. YouTube and 3 great games (Don't Starve, Dungeon of the Endless, and Heroes of the Storm) have dominated my life for the past 2 months, and I have fell back into my bad habits and sleep schedule.

Before my life spirals out of control I have to make a stand. I hope to actually make a physical checklist of 8 things I must try to do each day (less on Sundays). My schedules in the past have never worked so I have to do all I can to enforce new, positive rules until hopefully they become habits. Along with this checklist I will need to reach out to friends and family for more support. If I look to God for direction first I trust that I will find new strength from the firm ground.

Every day I will strive to:

Read my devotional

Read a Bible chapter and pray

Practice violin 4 hours

Study 1 violin exercise (of 300) from 'Basics' by Simon Fischer

Study German

Write something here in this blog

Talk to a friend or call home

Take a picture or record a video

Sundays I will go to Church, and on the weekends I will go see a concert or visit a museum or just spend time out in the city.

And, not to lose focus and put the cart in front of the horse, if I am successful I will buy myself a birthday present of a new computer or a new camera. Today is an exception, but ideally I will keep my computer off during the day except to study German and will blog at 10, when I have to stop practicing. Then I will allow myself some time to talk to friends, play some games, and watch a few videos. My sleep schedule is horrible but I must start to work to get to bed at a reasonable hour.

The struggle seems eternal, but every day brings a new hope.