Checkpoint: >:(

I've been practicing pieces from one of my favorite contemporary composers for a time now, Yiruma ("River flows in you", "Kiss the Rain", "Maybe", "Its your day", etc) and one of the aspects that I've constantly been running into has been problems w/ the strength of my finger muscles- my ring finger and pinky fingers are just too weak!! -_____-" Everytime I try to play a sixteenth note in between a stream of eighth notes, because my fingers are so used to the rhythm of the eighth notes, and my ring finger isn't particularly strong, I always end up skipping the sixteenth notes- which is really frustrating to me because that part where he changes it up (adds the sixteenth notes to original eighth note rhythm) adds an extra edge of excitement to the original stream of eighth notes and essentially signifies the beginning of the climax, like a change in the phase of a piece- so its terribly frustrating when I miss it- like missing the entire climax of the piece!
Because I wore out myself playing it over and over again, trying to fix that part, I finally just gave up and took a break. But while resting I was actually able to find an article online that really helped, especially this quote,

"On a larger scale a very beneficial activity is to sit in one’s favourite armchair and with closed eyes hear the whole work through mentally. Because muscular memory is not involved in this process, this is very useful in detecting uncertainties, and moreover makes us much more aware of the general architecture of the piece. A similar and related activity is to do the same, but in addition imagining oneself physically playing the piece, being aware mentally of every movement of fingers and arms, without actually moving a muscle, all the while also mentally hearing the work. It is clear that both these practice methods are very beneficial to the memory, but they also serve to reduce nervousness and enhance the performance. Indeed one can go further and, if one is familiar with the venue, perform the work mentally on that particular piano in that particular space, even for that particular audience or examination panel. If the student is not familiar with the venue, one can conjure up an imaginary venue. By the time of the actual performance, one feels fairly used to the sensation of performing the work for an audience."

credit: http://appca.anu.edu.au/Part%202/Herscovitch%20-%20APPC05%20-%20Efficient%20and%20Productive%20Practice.pdf

by introducing me to other ways of effectively practicing the piano / memorizing piece without directly being at the piano and playing. This new approach really helped me since I didn't seem to be getting much progress at that point from directly playing on the piano >_<"