Update /now page

now/index.md

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-date: 2024-05-24 20:16:00
+date: 2024-07-05 20:10:00
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 # What I'm Doing Now
 
 > (This is a [/now page](https://nownownow.com/about), inspired by [Derek Sivers](https://sive.rs/now2).)
 
-Updated 25 May 2024, from Göttingen.
+Updated 5 July 2024, from some airport.
 
 ## Life Direction
 
 I'm currently trying to figure out what my next step in life should be. I actually had something I really wanted to do, but I didn't get in. (Post about this coming up sometime soon!) So now I need some alternative. The thing is that I'm getting a bit too comfortable in my current position, but at the same time, I'm not fully content with it. This means things need to change, in particular my job.
 
 I haven't made any decision so far (and probably won't until August at least), but I have some things in mind. One option would be to move in with my friends Johanna and Helmut in Norway! I'm spending quite a lot of time there every year, and now that they have their own house (and therefore a lot more space), I could imagine just living there (and they've been asking me to do this for quite some time now). It would be a pretty big leap though.
 
+## Traveling
+
+2024 happens to be a very busy year for me. As of July, I've spent more time away from home than at home. After almost exactly four years, I was finally able to go back to Japan for an extended vacation. I'll write a (photo-heavy) post about this trip at some point. I'm also spending lots of time with my friends in Norway and thoroughly enjoy that time (which is also the reason I'm considering moving in with them). Being constantly on the road is quite taxing though, so I don't actually mind that I (currently) have no plans from September onwards.[^yet]
+
 ## Blog Update
 
 I want this blog to be a thing again, even if it's just as a personal outlet. There were times when I posted a lot, but in the past three years I've barely posted anything. Also, there are some technical issues I want to tackle. I've already added a plugin to optimize images, so I plan to post more photos to this blog. But in the long term, I would like to migrate from Jekyll to something like [Astro](https://astro.build).
@@ -23,6 +27,8 @@ I want this blog to be a thing again, even if it's just as a personal outlet. Th
 
 In April 2022, so a bit over two years ago, I signed up for a gym membership and started strength training. Over time, I moved from the fancy devices (which are easier and safer for beginners to use, but tend to target few muscle groups at the same time) to barbell training, and now I'm mostly focused on squats, bench press, overhead press, and deadlift. I think I've made good progress in these two years, though the many breaks for traveling and stuff always kind of limit how far I can progress. Also at age 33, I'm already noticing that my body can't take as much at once compared to the past, so I'm kind of cautious about doing too much. But I'm really glad that I've been pretty consistent in doing strength training, supplemented with lots of stretching and some yoga (I usually go to yoga class once or twice a week, plus a little bit at home). Areas where I'd like to do more are bouldering and climbing (ever since my climbing partner moved away, I've had trouble getting back into it), as well as running (I've been doing more again recently, but I'm concerned about my ankles as they started hurting while/after running).
 
+Fun fact: In June 2024, I finished a 10.6 km run (Göttinger Altstadtlauf) while having COVID. Of course, I didn't know at that time. It was the worst 10k run of my life and I could barely walk the day after. It was also a whopping 12 minutes slower than my 2023 time of the same run. Pretty crazy, but at least I finished!
+
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-More updates later!
+[^yet]: I'm sure this will change, but I'm very much running out of vacation time, so my options are quite limited.