Pets, and hobbies shared with dad friends
Pets
A while ago we got a Betta, and we recently adopted a hamster as well. The whole family loves them.
Mahjong
I’ve started learning Mahjong, hoping eventually to be able to play with my dad friends. I’m playing mainly on Mahjong Soul and I’m slowly climbing the ladder.
Swimming
Our pool was closed for summer holiday, so I had a little gap in my practice. I’ve started using a pull buoy to work on my balance and rotation. The first times I tried it I was wobbling a lot, which shows how much I needed the practice. I’m doing my best to go through the motions slowly, keeping my core straight with a smooth rotation.
A dad friend who uses the same pool was also there, and he told me that my arm was dropping a lot when breathing. I hadn’t even noticed, so was very glad for the feedback. He also recommended doing side-kick drills with a kick-board, pressing down on the kick-board with my forward hand. This didn’t make sense to me at first — if I’m supposed to work to keep my hand up, what’s the sense in a drill where I’m pressing down? But he told me that it’s a good way to get a sense for feeling the tension of water underneath your hand, and letting it hold your hand up. So I took his word for it and gave it a go, press the kick-board while kicking, no big deal.
And then when I tried my normal stroke again, it was amazing how much more aware I was of my forward hand! I felt it sitting in the water, recognized the tension of the water underneath it, and focused on that sensation to hold my hand up. It was wonderful how he quickly pointed out one thing, suggested a drill to fix it, and that mostly solved it.