June 08th, Wednesday 2022

 07.06.2022

Nice day. Sort of nicer than yesterday. Yesterday somehow I was drained of energy. I'm wondering if it might have been all the time I spent wearing a respirator. Not sure if that makes sense. And I got really "distracted" late at night as well. Slept well, woke up on time, did not go to the post office cause honestly it doesn't matter that much. Worked, had a nice breakfast, waited and worked some more, played guitar, and recorded one bass part in the song. Bass is all about little nuances. I realised I prefer to play with my hand near the bridge. Putting it on strings past the bridge to mute it a tiny bit. Create sort of a "popping", tighter sound, similar to bass drum. Larger sound. Also picking can be very different. Sometimes you want to pick hard and deep, and sometimes the opposite. Ir it can be hard and shallow, only with a tip. SO many different tones you can create with your fingers. And some silly goose doesn't understand it when they hear "tone is in the hands". Sure, "tone" is a specific term. But it's still in the hands. If you force people to play the same riff with the exact same way you'll be intentionally removing the difference between different palying styles. Music isn't science. Science is science. First it should be philospers studying the statement, then the scientists should do an experiment on it. Some people just wanna uproot universal traditions. Those people, eh? Sure, some traditions are bad. And yet those people still suffer from massive obnoxiousness. I might be one of them and not realise it sometimes. I have a materialistic and rationalistic outlook on a lot of things. But not all things. Art. Art is meaningful. Religion is meaningful. If you pragmatize everything you'll end up corrupting things, removing the human part from them.

08.06.2022

Nice day. Didn't get too much sleep, but woke up easily, had my repetable quests postponed again. I decided to quickly order the taxi and go to the post office and back, and finally I did! I got the filing kit. Had a really nice breakfast - one pork cutlet, plenty of fresh onion, tomato and cucumber, break and porridge. Didn't feel like sleeping, but didn't feel like I have much energy either. Ended up sleeping for a while after all.

Having a second batch of coffee. Feels nice. Bought the same brand I liked last time, but different kind. Supposedly it was more expensive. Medium roast.

Yesterday I ordered an unpainted SG body from aliexpress. If I keep succesfully receiving packages form China I just might get addicted to chinese shopping, he he. Yeah, that's my next project after G310 - assembling an SG guitar from all sorts of different parts. Should be cool. Maybe it can even be a business, you know? If I do ever get better at it.

Tell you what though. Just saw the same kit I bought on ozon on aliexpress at significantly smaller price. Oh well, it was cheap either way. Makes you wonder. I like ozon cause of delivery. But they are probably making big coin, eh?

Was thinking of what guitar I'd like buy if I allowed myself - which I should really not do, hehe. I'd like an Epiphone SG Modern, if they had less cringe color. That transparent black is kinda awful imho. Muse guitars are awesome, but kinda silly looking. Solid color. Nice, but kinda silly. And overpriced AF. BUT they do have cool pickup splitters and even a phase inverter. More tones you got there, in the guitar itself. Somehow I like the idea of a one-pickup guitar more. I just do. Beautiful simplicity, straghtforward and to the point. Sadly, not all things in life work well when they're simple. Not many things can be solved with what seems to be a "simple" approach. Curious. Just caffeine induced thoughts.

Now it's almost 8 PM. Time to work out. Today's plan is to get pumped with minimal fatigue. I did plan this week to be sort of a "break". I considered coming up with something like 3 sets of 10 with 50%, to make it as if it was a "part of the microcycle" since we're going from high volume light weights to the opposite in programs, and then restart with heavier weights. Maybe that's what I'll do indeed. 150 is a really light weight. Maybe I'll even train my grip! Here's the deal though, nnif I really wanna get a good pump I better not take really long breaks. We'll see, hehe. I kinda wanna have a nice workout tomorrow as well. I feel like my shoulders are really fresh.

Workout

Deadlift

Some warmups - mostly short range dynamic stretches of tights muscles - hips, ankles, glutes, hamstrings

20 - 60 for 10

110 for 10-  feels nice. I think I need to make breaks shorter if I want good pumping

140 for 10 - dang, that was hard for my breathing 😂 TBH I think 200 for 10 would've been the same, cause of how muscle fibers work. I made sure to take breaks to set up every rep, cause if you do it without resetting it's a lot like doing touch and go DLs. Man, touch and go DLs are the biggest cringe. Some of the biggest. The bad kind of egolifting. Should rather do reps from the floor with rubber.

140 for 10 more - nice, better pacing. Put the belt even lower. To think that some people do sets of 10 as warmups. They have to have good endurance. Perhaps I'll consider that as well. Normally I just warmup with the same numbver o reps as in wroking sets.
Shaved my mustache and neckbeard beofre this set. It always amps me up. This facial haitrstyle is what they call "woodsman goatee" in ESO. I liked it and copied it. It reminds me of Wolverine a tiny bit too, except reverve. Ain't got a massive chin to noit have a goatee. I like my chin though, the smaller ones ain't bad. Less of a target xD Here's what I'm tlkaing about.

145 for 10 - nice, even better. Today my working sets were my warmup. It's funny cause warmup often feels harder than working sets, when you're experienced enough. And for beginner lifters it's the opposite, cause they left lighter weights and they tend to "overwarm" before. And their CNS isn't as prepared. They tend to have warmups that feel ligther and working sets that feel heavier. Maybe it's also cause they still heave fear. I head fear of weights and some exercises for a long time. When you're not confident. That's a waste of energy. Learn to be confident. Activate the "fight, not flight" response, hehe. But most of what I'm saying is merely an empirical hypothesis.

Went outside. Did 2 sets of 5 of "high pullups". First making a planche-like type, then making the high pullups as if I was gonna do a muscle up. I think I did well. I oughta try learning to do a muscle up right. I was able to do it only in a weird way when I was a kid.

Bent over rows - 60 for 10 - feels nice to devote a tiny bit of attention to a forgotten movement.

So, today's dealifts - the main part of the workout - took less than an hour, which is a massive win. I feel just great. Wanted to do some heavy bag work for once in a lifetime, but decided I'd better do it tomorrow, after pushpresses.

I keep thinking I could probably keep more of my workout vids on youtbe and just paste them here. Google Drive is nice too, cause it allows for easier cleanup. I probably have over a hundred gigs of training vids saved everywhere.

Now, for a really fun part of the day, something I've been waiting for for a long time... I'll work on my SQOE PRS! Did you know some people consider the PRS shape to be a double cut rather than a strat? Well, strat is a double cut as well, when you think about it, haha, it's more about semantics.

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Okay. I tried the file for the first time. Oh man, if only I had waited a tiny bit. But I couldn't. I was in angst, in mental agony from things unrelated to guitar. A lot those random self-hard marks that I got as a kid. Yeah, I'm a typical millenial, I did self-harm intuitively in a subconscious albeit evident protest against some things that were happening in my life. And those cuts on the neck binding are the same, hehe. Not really. Cause I was trying to fix a problem and remove sharp corners. Not a perfect metaphor, but good enough imho.

I filed the edges on some of the higher frets, and evened them out a little bit as well. Used the small whetstone that came with the kit to even out one of them, and then used the file on top of it and got it all dirty. Silly. Had to wash it after that.

Then I figured out the location of some of the most notorious binding cuts and taped around it with some masking tape. Then i just poured a teeny tiny bit of superglue on them. I'll polish it later, when it hardens. I've got the feeling it's not the best idea. Still, I go for it. Even in my insane endorphin-ed state. Short intense bodybuilding-style workout are the best at releasing endorphins (pound for pound). No wonder Arnold said it's like having an orgasm all the time. I wish Arnold retired before 2020 and removed himself from public eye. He's only been an embarassment to himself in his old age.

All the good things need to leave on time, before they get ruined. I'm not talking about careers of creative people though. They only really need to pace themselves and make sure their art isn't getting "oversaurated", if you will. Ah, it's borderline nonsense cause I'm speaking in such general terms, but I hope you know what I'm talking about. Like The Simpsons only really have two or three good episodes per season these days, unlike their first ten years. Well, the difeerent generation is watching em now, so the money keeps on flowing. Ain't that great. Fast art. Fabricated rather than created.

I'd love to become a guitar maker. But we're only trying so far. Just being curious about it. Wanna do a tiny bit, see how it goes. My finger that got operated on is pretty stiff today after all the DLs, even if they were light. But heck, maybe it's cause it's way tougher. I do need this finger for playing guitar though.

Curious thing - I feel like the pinky is the second most important finger for playing guitar. I know I use it more than middle and ring finger. Less than the index finger. Simple. Not all people do that, of course. I just happen to have them developed from a lot of grip and wrist work in the earlier years. And I think I got good genetics, looking at my siblings' palms. (They got mighty mitts too). Great luck.

Two new Superman & Lois episodes came out already. I think I just might wait until the last one comes to watch em together like a movie. Really love the atmosphere in that show. The Smallville, especially.

Okay. After some time I think I can conclude that superglue is not the right material to fill it in. It's meant to hold things together, not be a filler itself. I think I'll try melting a piece of PVC pipe and filling the cut with it. Melting it in White Spirit, not with heat. I read about it being used to fix binding.

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Chilling with caffeine hitting my head. Just so hyped, as usual. I wish I didn't have to sleep so much during the day. Found a PRS style neck for sale. Strange, but I wanna see if I get the SG body first. You know, I found out that plywood isn't just made from wood shavings. Apparently it can be very different. I'd love to try and make something out solid wood one day. But that's far in the future, only if.

I realised that the guitar body I chose to purchase is different from an Epiphone - it doesn't have the neck butt. Hmm. I wonder if I should continue with it or try to cancel it.
Or pehaps it is a good one, except it's for glue-in, rather than bolts.

After searching through the site I calmed down. There are plenty of proper necks. But I'm not gonna order any yet.

I think I might have been wrong about plywood... It says that the body is made of solid wood.
"Solid wood lumber is produced from slabs of wood that are sawn from logs and then kiln dried. The drying process not only reduces the moisture content of the wood but also increases its strength and dimensional stability. However, even after kiln drying, solid wood will shrink and expand dimensionally in response to seasonal fluctuations in atmospheric humidity." Curious.

Then I found a typical SG body with a neck butt... Oh well. Maybe in the future. Now I have some thinking to do. Feels so great I finally went to the post office. Valuable experience.

Random pic of the day - File:ParcoMilani2.jpg