Looking for a Gym to Join

Once again, I was able to wake up early enough to write a journal entry this morning, which is like a miracle to me. 

I typically get up around 7:45 a.m., and don’t force myself to wake up earlier, since having sufficient sleep is essential for my health. However, whenever I’m lucky enough to wake up naturally before 6:45 a.m., I make a point of doing this writing practice in English. 

Now that we have the ChatGPT technology, I firmly believe that practicing to write English and having it proofread by AI is the most effective way to improve your command of this language.

Yesterday was a public holiday in Singapore. Unfortunately, I was feeling a bit under the weather with a cold. However, despite being sick, I visited two fitness gyms in the neighborhood because I was looking for a gym to join.

My previous gym membership expired during the Covid pandemic, and I haven’t worked out ever since. Consequently, my weight has increased to 60 kilograms from 56, despite me practicing intermittent fasting daily.

With the new gym membership, I’m not just looking to get rid of excess fat, but I’m also aiming to gain muscles, in order to obtain better looks to boost my confidence.

The two gyms that I visited have their pros and cons, and I still haven’t decided which one to join. The first gym is cheaper and open 24/7, but a bit small and cramped. The second is more expensive and only open until 10 p.m., but it’s bigger and has nicer facilities. It’s a tough choice, but I hope to be able to make a decision soon.

Focusing on Indonesian Vocabulary

Hi everyone,

Today is a public holiday in Singapore, so I don’t have to go to work. Unfortunately, yesterday, I got a cold from one of my colleagues, and am still feeling a bit out of sorts, so in the morning I stayed in bed a bit longer compared to a normal public holiday. I’ve watched a few YouTube videos featuring Nikuyo Nikunokoji, my favorite Japanese drag queen, before finally getting out of bed. I’ve just taken a pill of Panadol for my cold, hoping to feel better soon.

Last night after work, I went to The Coffee Bean yet again to study Indonesian. As usual, I made around 30 flashcards with Indonesian words with the aid of ChatGPT and memorized them on the spot.

Through my decades of experience of learning foreign languages, I am convinced that building up your vocabulary is crucial to developing your fluency and comprehension in a language, so I am right to be focusing on vocabulary at this stage. Since I am learning Indonesian from a beginner’s textbook with an audio CD, I can also learn grammar and pronunciation along the way.

Based on my estimate, I need to learn around 10,000 words to be able to understand Indonesian books and movies. So, at the rate of 25 words a day, I need to continue learning for 400 days, which is a bit over a year. This might sound like a daunting task to some people, but I don’t think it’s too difficult to achieve, especially in comparison with such languages as English and Japanese, which literally take ages to learn.

Yesterday, I cooked Japanese curry and rice for dinner with a Hotcook, an automatic cooker manufactured by Sharp. As usual, the dish turned out quite good. Since I cooked a lot, I divided it up into a few days’ portions and put them in the freezer, so I can take out a portion and reheat it whenever I’m too busy or lazy to cook dinner.