##加分不够: effort,improvement…

In goal-oriented, problem-solving mode — we tend to notice the dysfunctional, the obstacles, and COMPLAIN against the schools, the job market, our kids and ourselves, and compare against high flyers … 不断给自己减分, 但无论是 努力 还是 好运, 都该给自己加分。 总是忘了加， 或加的不够多。不公正！For a concrete example, see earn/deduct points unfairly #weight mgmt

• ===health lifestyle
• -5 weight loss not working (This item calibrates the point system.)
  • +20<-15 no belly at this age
• -3 yoga — stopped completely after I left Singapore
  • +10 weekly yoga and enjoyable
• +40 no major illness so far
• +3 standing table — I do it many hours a day. Some small effort but I have kept it up since Nov 2017
  • (similarly) +1 sleeping on floor
• +3 enjoyable jogging in park
• +5 no TV since Apr 2017. TV is bad for my sleep, workout…
• +1 citibike everyday
• +2 even though not effective, I do skip many meals
• +2 rarely eats pizza, ice cream and other indulgence foods
• +1 refrain on my favorite shelled peanuts
• +2 raw carrot, chia seeds
• +1 lots of fruits
• ===immigration
• -20 I feel bitter about GC and lost opportunities (This item calibrates the point system.)
• +30 SG citizenship
• +40 SG citizenship for wife and family # same 加分 amount as “no major illness”
• +15 U.S. citizenship for boy
• +10 relatively fast GC process compared to those queuing in big firms
• ===family relationships
• -5 not spending enough time with kids. (This item calibrates the point system.)
• -2 living away from wife… sounds scary
• +3 marriage not weakening, but strengthening slightly;
• +20 robust potency # effort or luck
• +5 good communication with grandparents
• ===financial health
• +15 low personal burn rate as a conserver lifestyle, lower than my peers
• +10 low family burn rate, lower than my peers’ families
• +15 Cambodia … passive income
• +20 shield plans for family
• +30 windfall profit on Blk 177 (This item calibrates the point system.)
• +25 appreciation of 1/5 share of the Beijing home
• ===everyday living
• -2 long commute eating up free time, no effective reading on commute. See ## t-penalty@commute: proven solutions
• +2 engineered 10-minute saving of commute
• -1 no waterfront walk
• +1 close to big park
• +4 picked and moved in to “experience” my #1 target location for family home
• +4 learned driving
• -1 spending more than target of $1k ex-rent
• +2 found a nice little room at good price
• ===career — in this blog I try to look beyond career, but I will list up to 10 example in this space
• See also 22surprises since Apr2017 #work+family #mostly positive
• -30 MSFM ROI and “pains” like poor retention
• +20 completed MSFM through huge effort and commitment
• -20 hope dashed for quant and WestCoast
• +20 CVA $120/H (extraordinary) + hit about 10 c++ technical wins since Apr 2017
• +10 @RTS, c++ zbs and GTD gain –> confidence
• +5 gaining traction with weekly coding practice
• +5 learned enough python to use it for coding tests
• +5 getting into high volume equity mkt data + OMS

##mini workout sprinkled into daily life #crossfit

Mini-exercise is my adaptation of “crossfit”, probably not close to the original but never mind.

#1 attraction – at this day and age, time and motivation and, to a lesser extent, running $cost are the real problems. Mini-workout requires little time or resources. Can use the staircase, or outside your office building, or at home. I am lucky to live on 2nd floor, with a nearby exercise corner.

The Pure fitness trainer reminded me to include resistance training, esp. at older age.

I wish to stop the deterioration of my flexibility. I want to stretch my neck, lower back ….

Mini-exercise makes it easier to involve kids.

I think there’s not much positive feedback in my mini exercises, but never mind. Perhaps I could stop focusing exclusively on the lengthy endurance training like swimming/jogging. The short bursts of intensity training can be more effective at calorie burning. Here’s the list

• –flexibility:
• Luckily we don’t need a big block of time like cardio. I feel 10 minutes of serious stretch can be effective.
• Luckily very little resources needed. Can do some stretch in many places, but quiet and nice surrounding can reduce the resistance in me.
• [F] shoulder stretch
• [H] downward dog, cat, standing fold, frog, and other basic poses
• — strength: I am fairly successful finding time for strength training
• Luckily my resistance level is lowest here.
• [H] pull-up
• [FH] push-up , possibly with kids
• [H] hand gripper
• — stamina, cardio
• 2-hour block of time proved very good for me, but let’s see how to create mini exercise.
• [H] sit-up
• [FH] rope-skipping
• [FH] lunge — tricky spelling
• jumping jack
• birdie
• double-bar dip
• [FH] squat
• [H] shoot-up with kids
• [H] jumping jack
• [F] stepper
• –the rest
• gym: make good use of the super-convenience
• [H = home]
• [F = office]

## blockbuster PERSONAL stories in wellness since 2017

ranked in terms of difficulty and surprise, not in terms of impact on wellness

1. [h] starch reduction
2. [h] early sleep, early rise
3. [h] no meal after 10pm —
4. [h] weekly yoga sessions in RealYoga, Macq, Bayonne…
5. veg salad everyday for 2 months since Sep 2019
6. weight and BMI improved to the best in 30 years, perhaps better than I was 17
7. able to jog for 8 miles in one session
8. [h=rose above from a life-long habit]

frq@stretching #practically

try to stretch for 10 min on the body part you last used. Aim for 2-3 such stretches a week.

If you can’t then I would say aim for 2 minutes twice a week.

t_fuxi^PendingReview^sticky

Why I spend so much time fine-tuning this scheme? Because without these tools we tend to lose insights, information ..

Beware the growing dependency on WordPress !

1. — ranked by visibility and accessibility:
2. publication Date — Highest visibility. Change the date to a future date, so these posts automatically bubble up on top in the edit page. I feel this is the most effective, but requires many clicks and no way to mass-update
3. sticky — “curious blogpost to be reviewed”
   1. super fuxi-tag offering … mass-untagging
   2. I am experimenting to implement snooze feature using sticky — “snooze” a number (like 20) of posts for a while, then remove all sticky tags
   3. It can be useful to have a separate tag “t_fuxiTitleUnfresh” that means “evergreen important, but should not sort on top or get the top fuxi tags“.
4. DRAFT — in my scheme means “with big open questions”, but is harder to manage than Sticky flag
5. PendingReview — is similar to Draft, but inferior because it silently removes the Private status!
   1. Currently I haven’t assigned a specific meaning
6. ### draft,  sticky and Pending posts are more accessible thanks to quick-links on top menu-bar (beside “Published”)
7. 0project_tag — a top-ranked category, less convenient than “sticky”. More temporary.
8. !fuxi20 — tag for top 20
9. !jolt20 — tag is similar to STICKY, but also shouts “Let me remind you again”
10. t_bold — big bold claims and opinions, softer than jolt
11. fuxi_title vs fuxi — fuxi_title has revealing titles but often familiar contents.

categories to be moved out@main blog

• fmath
• swing
•  

## relief food for coding drill

super-convenient, ideally no heating required, no peeling required

• [ez] pre-cut fruits
• expensive fruits
• [ez] century eggs, salted eggs
• [ez] tuna + chocolate
• green peas + carrot — much less addictive than rice. Rice easily leads to binge
• protein shake @ Retro
• [g] light ice cream — should add some onion, raw vegie
• [g] chocolates
• [g=guilty but relatively light]
• [ez=really convenient]

well done on 16 Jun 2019 return flight

• dental: flossing ..
• stretched for 10-20 minutes
• delayed meals every time
• removed mayo from sandwich, even when I was hungry
• Accepted noodles even though I preferred rice. Noodles helped me reduce calorie in-take
• no movie, even though I had not watched any movie for months except the Junction8 trip with family
• read all three tech books
• wholesome family meals in Beijing. Pure joy
• enough sleep in Beijing + long flight. Rather important to my survival of the “Lakewood disaster”

IMF^WorldBank

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/043015/what-difference-between-international-monetary-fund-and-world-bank.asp is the best intro

• both are headquaterted in D.C. but WB is more dominated by U.S.
• bail-out (rescue loan) is done only by IMF. Goal is stabalizing international financial system.

[19] U.S.edu indeed more holistic than SG

Bill Chen pointed out that at least at middle (+elementary) school level, U.S. system is more holistic than China system. Many of his friends benefited. I said my son is not academic and would fare better in the U.S. system. He agreed.

I said even at high school level, U.S. system is still more holistic than China system, since college admission is only 50% based on academics, mostly GPA and sometims SAT.  Bill agreed. The academic benchmark used is not always a national standard benchmark such as SAT. I guess U.S. colleges knows that SAT is poor predictor of success in college.

Junli told me some colleges said SAT score is optional and will be considered iFF submitted. I feel good to hear this for my son. I think for this reason, YLZ’s two kids both scored very high in SAT but still not very impressive to the U.S. colleges. The Singapore system is mostly focused on academics but U.S. system is more holistic.

When I asked about “50%” quoted earlier, Liu Yong pointed out school projects, leadership roles .. are important admission criteria.

Overall, I feel U.S. system is likely better for my son. More non-academic programs. Singapore system expects high motivation at too early an age, when my son is not ready.

— as I told Josh

I told Josh … The “breakthrough” I will wait for – when my son starts showing any serious, sustained dedication to anything meaningful, I will feel relieved that I made the right decision to bring him to the U.S.

However, serious motivation about something meaningful may not be such an important breakthrough. Academic benchmark is a dangerous trap including coding competitions.