‘5-Bullet Fridays…on a Sunday!’ is a weekly-ish blog post where I highlight 5 things going on in my life. I’ve adapted this from a friend, who modeled it after Tim Ferriss’ 5-Bullet Friday. With each new post, I look to work on my writing, reflect on my current self, and share my knowledge and experiences. And for those of you wondering, I chose Sunday instead of Friday because I personally find it the better day for recapping the week!
If you missed the last entry, you can read it here.
It’s October and it’s finally starting to cool down. Waking up on Monday to a wide-open window and sub-50° weather was quite frigid. Good thing I picked up a Deadmau5 bomber jacket last week — it’s so cozy!
Anyways, this week’s 5BFS is more like the original 5-Bullet Friday format: I go over a new photo edit, some new and old favorite songs, finally getting back into the gym, updates to a favorite food docuseries, and closing escrow on our two new income properties.
Next week might turn out to be a much lengthier entry, maybe not even a 5BFS format, so treat this week as an interlude. See what I did there? ::wink::
So without wasting more time, here’s Entry #002: Interlude.
What I’ve edited this week:
Like I mentioned last week in Entry #001, I’ve been trying to improve my photo editing in Lightroom. And thanks to r/EditMyRaw, I found another great photo to work on by u/planetenmanfred:
I really enjoyed working on this one! I attempted to re-create that dark, moody, desaturated look that’s all the rage on Instagram now.
Looking at it again now, I could have lightened up the shadows in the clouds more since the heavy contrast pulls your attention away from the canoe. But overall, I’m happy with the look and feel of the edit — especially the darkened and desaturated red on the canoe.
What I’ve been listening to:
This week I finally had the chance to tune in live (albeit only an hour) to Armin van Buuren’s A State of Trance (ASOT) Episode 934 live.
‘Monsoon’ by Tom Fall and Tanner Wilfong and ‘Night Flight’ by Beatsole definitely caught my attention.
There’s just something about (progressive and uplifting) trance that just puts me in a better mood. It’s entrancing.
On the flip side, I’m not too keen on that new hardstyle track from Armin. It definitely plays as a mainstage/crowd-pleaser, so I think I’ll be sticking to his ASOT sets even more now…
(Side-note: I’m still pretty upset at myself for cancelling my trip to Oakland to attend ASOT 900 Bay Area. #ifyouknowyouknow)
Now a drift away from electronic music, I’ve been a little somber and moody this week. I blame the dark, cooler, and cloudier weather, but it did get me to throw on the Garden State soundtrack again.
Garden State is one of my all-time favorite movies from the early 2000s starring Zach Braff (who I’ve loved from Scrubs) and Natalie Portman (everyone’s celebrity crush back then). The movie follows Zach Braff’s character through a journey of self-discovery after visiting his hometown for his mother’s funeral. The soundtrack itself is curated by Zach Braff himself, and features amazing indie-alternative tracks. Because of this album, I discovered The Shins and The Postal Service (Such Great Heights, not on this album).
(Side-note: As I was adding and new playlists into Spotify, I noticed a new option: Create Folder. With this playlist folders, you can group your playlists into categories to help manage and organize all your playlists. How cool!)
What I’ve been working (out) on:
This week I finally made it back into the gym.
Since the new year, I’ve attempted to stay on this 5-day program I found on Reddit called nSuns (original post). The program itself is extremely taxing both physically and mentally. With 17 sets of main compound lifts, some days took almost TWO hours to finish a workout!
But because of the irregularity of my summer schedule, and just the raw intensity of the program, I just wasn’t able to recover properly. This left me beat up and sleep-deprived.
Now that things are starting to stabilize (I think), I’ve decided to take on the program again. This time, though, I’m going with the 4-day variant with some slight modifications. Below is a quick overview of my program adaptation:
nSuns 4-Day Variant
Day 1: Bench Press + Overhead Press + Back/Arm Accessories
Day 2: Squat + Sumo Deadlift + Leg/Core Accessories (light)
Day 3: Bench Press + C.G. Bench Press + Back/Shoulder/Arms Accessories
Day 4: Deadlift + Leg/Core Accessories (medium)
Starting tomorrow (10/7) I’ll officially start Week 1 of this new program. And after the first 3-week cycle of this program, I’ll try to come back with a ‘review’ and update post. But if you want more details or have any questions about nSuns, send me a message!
What I’ve been watching:
The Chef Show is back with more episodes! And if you know me at all, I’m all about Roy Choi and his food! (Roy, please open back up Chego soooon!)
Roy Choi and Jon Favreau continue on to show us so much amazing food and the stories behind them all. And honestly, I just love watching/listening to Roy Choi — there’s just something about his style that’s just so calming and chill.
Although, I am a little disappointed Andrew Rea’s (aka Binging With Babish) segment in the last episode of this volume. I was just hoping for a little bit more from the YouTuber. But seeing as how he’d already gotten a pretty big spotlight in an earlier episode (S01E03: Chef Film Recipes), and this was all filmed over a year ago, I can understand turning the focus more on Roy, Jon, and the second segment of the episode.
Anyways, give it a watch and let me know which episode got your mouth watering the most!
What we CLOSED ESCROW on this week:
We’ve FINALLY closed on the two new houses and it’s been a great relief. Everyone was getting a little on-edge since everyone’s afraid someone is going to back out. But closing escrow on both properties went pretty smoothly.
The previous owners of one of the houses hadn’t purchased a new home yet, so they requested that we rent-back the house. This was a little sketchy since their brokers tried to tell us that at time of close escrow, we wouldn’t be getting keys to the house since they were renting back the house!
We had to tell them that they were required by law to give us a copy of the key to the house as we are the new owners of the house, and their clients are now tenants.
This put some sense into them, and delivered all the required items promptly to the escrow office. And now they have a maximum of 30 days before they have to move out. And thankfully, it looks like they’ve found a new home and might not even need more than two weeks. (Imagine having to evict the previous owners of the house!)
The other property was already vacant so closing went smoothly. I’m really excited about this place because it’s a newer home (built in 2010) with a modern floorplan and upgraded kitchen — all of which kept in really good condition.
We have to do a few minor touch-ups, but it should be ready to rent out later this month. But I’m being completely honest, I want to move into this one myself!
And here we are…Entry #002 of 5-Bullet Friday…on a Sunday! logged in the books. I hope you found this week’s topics interesting! As always, let me know if something stood out to you because I’d love to hear your thoughts about it.
Next week might not be a standard 5BFS, but rather a lengthier, more introspective post. So if you’re into that kind of thing, then I look forward to you joining me for that.
Otherwise, I’ll see you in the next 5-Bullet Fridays…on a Sunday!
