Ophelia Swims

Oh boy, it's been a while. Let's see if I can catch up. I found out on Wednesday that a friend died. Obviously that had a big impact on the rest of the week. Cancer is the worst. February 26: Goal #1: Lights out by 10:45 PM. Goal #2: Food tracked. Goal #3: 30 minutes writing February 27: Goal #1: Lights out by 10:45 PM. Goal #2: Food tracked. Goal #3: 45 minutes writing February 28: Goal #1: Nope. Spent hours texting mutual friends about our friend's passing and sharing memories. Goal #2: Food tracked. Goal #3: I usually do my writing at night, so obviously that didn't happen. March 1: Goal #1: Nooooo. I just wanted to lose myself in my book instead of lying awake feeling sad. Goal #2: Food tracked. Goal #3: 30 minutes writing. March 2: Goal #1: No again. I technically didn't have to since it was the weekend, although I should have to make up for missing weekdays. Goal #2: Food tracked. Goal #3: Took the night off writing. March 3: Goal #1: Nope. (See previous day.) Goal #2: Food tracked. Goal #3: No writing. I hosted an impromptu memorial at my house for our friend. We brainstormed some charities to donate to in her memory. March 4: Goal #1: TBD, though I am determined to reset for this coming week. Goal #2: Food tracked, had to guess on the brunch dishes my friends made. Goal #3: 45 minutes writing! -- Grades for the past week won't be amazing when I type them up tomorrow, but they're understandable, considering. Rest in peace, my sweet friend.

WEEK 1 RESULTS (really Week 2 for anyone who started the challenge on time, cough cough) GOAL #1: Lights out by 10:45 PM. Grades: A - 5 days per week B- 4 days per week C - 3 days per week D - 2 days per week F - 0-1 days per week Grade for the Week: A with 5/7 days this week. AND it was a school vacation week, too! There was no reason for me to go to bed early, but I did. The extra sleep definitely helped combat the burnout I was feeling after a busy January/first half of February. GOAL #2: Track food. Grades: A - 6-7 days per week B - 4-5 days per week C - 3 days per week D - 2 days per week F - 0-1 days per week Grade for the Week: A with 7/7 days tracked. The rest of the weeks will be much easier, since I ate from coffee shops/restaurants a LOT more often than I usually do while on vacation. GOAL #3: Write 3 hours/week. Grades:A - 3 hours per weekB - 2.5 hours per weekC - 2 hours per weekD - 1.5 hours per weekF - 0-1 hours per week Grade for the Week: A, with four hours total. Not as much as I'd hoped on a vacation week, but all of the sleeping and proper nutrition and exercise (...and dental care, SIGH) helped with a real sense of burnout. I'm happy with any regular writing habit, especially in the face of wedding planning, which I also did this week. I suppose I could think of some kind of reward for the end of this challenge, but not having to confess failures to the Internet is its own reward.

February 24: Goal #1: I let myself stay up for the weekend. Goal #2: Food tracked, with guesses on the (delicious) brunch I ate with family. I eat out maybe 1-2 times per month. Vacation means EAT ALL THE THINGS. Goal #3: Took the night off. February 25: Goal #1: Lights out at 10:45. I did NOT fall asleep until a bit after midnight. The end of February break will bring me back to crushing reality. Goal #2: Food tracked! I also MADE so much food, oh man. Savory breakfast muffins, coconut banana baked oatmeal, tofu zoodle soup, bahn mi bowls, a giant garden salad... Goal #3: One hour of editing, hooray!

February 22: Goal #1: Lights did go out at 10:45, although hoo BOY did I not fall asleep right away. Goal #2: Food tracked! Much easier to track what I ate, since my mouth ached more than expected after the dentist. Goal #3: 30 minutes of writing. February 23: Goal #1: Already met for the week. I might... GASP... stay up until 11:00 and turn the light out at 11:30! Or I might not make it because now I've established my sleep habits better. Goal #2: Food tracked, with some restaurant guesswork. Goal #3: ONE HOUR of writing! Good, because I have family in town tomorrow.

February 21: Goal #1: Lights out at 10:45 again. Having to confess to strangers on the Internet keeps me in line. Took me a while to fall asleep because I've fallen into more of an 11 PM-8 AM sleep cycle over vacation, but I will be MUCH less miserable when I go back to work next week. Goal #2: Food tracked, again a little guesswork on my coconut milk bubble tea. SO GOOD. Goal #3: 30 minutes of writing, sadly not more. As I'm sure any freelancer knows, it's hard to structure your day so as not to waste time. "I must urgently scrub the bathroom, and then take a break on the Internet for 2 hours!" (Well, at least the bathroom is very clean.) Today's intentions: dentist (sigh), writing, vacuuming, cooking, gym if I take care of all that other stuff first. (Normally not a "put the gym off" person, but I've been putting off vacuuming while faithfully going to my regular gym classes and we have guests coming this weekend.)

February 20: Goal #1: Lights out at 10:45, though I didn't fall asleep until 11:32 according to FitBit. Guess my body has finished catching up on sleep and now requires more exercise than wandering around town with a friend. Goal #2: Food tracked, although cafe food was all estimated. Vietnamese iced coffee on an unexpectedly warm February day = 100 percent worth it. Goal #3: Solid 30 minutes of writing, impressive after a day of socializing! Today's intentions: writing, bike ride, clean the bathroom, gym. It's good to be on vacation.

BP was amazing! Probably the Marvel movie that does the best balancing an ensemble cast. Everything, from the characters to the visuals, had so much vibrancy and personality.

Man, I'm starting this challenge on Hard Mode because my district is on break this week, so there's no reason for me to go to bed early. February 18 (technically not part of this week, but I started yesterday anyway): Goal #1: Lights were out by 10:43 PM. I was quite tired thanks to staying out late on Saturday night, so I don't think I lay awake for TOO long. Goal #2: Tracked my food, hooray! Goal #3: Wrote for half an hour. February 19: Goal #1: Lights out by 10:45 success! Goal #2: Tracked my food again. Who has two thumbs and brought her own bag of kettle corn to Black Panther? Goal #3: Wrote for another 30 minutes! Since I'm off work, I want to squeeze in longer writing sessions, but I also ran errands and saw BP today.

Aw, thank you! Thank you! Always awesome to hear from another teacher. Tragically, my coworkers are wonderful about birthdays/baby showers/etc. and there are ALWAYS homemade treats in the staff room...

Long time no see, my dude! Taako is the perfect choice for self-care. <3

Long time no see, Nerd Fitness! Since my last challenge in 2015, I've started teaching in a wonderful school district, joined a gym, and gotten engaged to one of my favorite people in the world. I cook 95-100% of my meals per week (and no longer have to do dishes, thanks to the fiance). I work out 4-5 times per week at my awesome gym. I also walk from work to the gym, then from the gym to home, which gives me more exercise as well as time to catch up on my latest obsession, a D&D webcast-and-also-podcast known as Critical Role. (I'm watching the second season live, but there was no way I could sit and watch 115 4-hour D&D sessions! On the other hand, I love to take walks, so I'm now on Episode 92 of the podcast.) Critical Role, along with The Adventure Zone, revitalized playing D&D in my group of friends. Life is pretty darn good. Even wedding planning has been minimally stressful, thanks to two low-key people and their low-key families supporting each other on the road to matrimony. So it's time to increase my Constitution ability score. With only three weeks to complete this challenge, even. (Some fine Critical Role players are amazed at my audacity!) Oh, my CON is pretty good, what with the home-cooked meals and good personal hygiene. But I want it to be better. (A DM cannot guarantee success, but he can grant you opportunities.) GOAL #1: Lights out by 10:45 PM. Background: Sleep has never come easily to me. No matter how physically and/or mentally exhausted I am, my busy mind ticks along for at least 30 minutes after I turn out the lights. I read before bed to help relax my mind, but then I get engrossed in the story, and somehow it's midnight. I get up at 6:30 AM during the work week. With my gym membership (going since September 2017), I'm pushing my body more. As a teacher, I need large reserves of energy, patience, and kindness. I need to sleep! (5 out of 5 clerics agree that sleep is important for your mental and physical health! Also, lay off the cursed swords.) Grades: A - 5 days per week B- 4 days per week C - 3 days per week D - 2 days per week F - 0-1 days per week GOAL #2: Track food. Background: What's that, you say? Don't I cook almost all of my meals? Well, yes, but awesome new school has a LOT of snacks. I fit into all my clothes just fine, and I am the last person to label foods "clean" or "dirty." Orthorexia is a real thing, and I've watched friends battle eating disorders because of the way we pathologize food. That said, too much of a good thing (read: snacks) gives me stomachaches. Whether it's apples, beef jerky, or Girl Scout cookies, I overindulge. I need a bit of a dietary reset. From past experience, consistent tracking will do exactly that. Some part of my brain gets deep satisfaction from hitting macros and daily calorie intake exactly right. (Now I really want a BLT... which I can totally fit into my daily macros.) Grades: A - 6-7 days per week B - 4-5 days per week C - 3 days per week D - 2 days per week F - 0-1 days per week GOAL #3: Write 3 hours/week. Background: Journaling and creative writing are two of my favorite creative outlets. I tend to work in bursts of productivity that might last 1-3 months, then the well dries up. Right now I'm testing out the goal of "write 5 days per week," but I find that I often throw down a token sentence and call it a day. Setting a specific number of hours rather than a specific number of days is a better way to ensure I get some solid writing done. (Portrait of the artist sinking into her fictional world.) Grades: A - 3 hours per week B - 2.5 hours per week C - 2 hours per week D - 1.5 hours per week F - 0-1 hours per week My intention: To keep this exact challenge going for at least two Nerd Fitness challenges. Three weeks ain't enough to make a habit stick, but it will be a fabulous start. (May I roll half as well as Taliesin.)

<3 I somehow never subbed to this! I'm happy for all these good things, especially the personal day with no guilt. Hard to do, yo.

Finally floating back to NF long enough to subscribe. Feel better, Schuyler sister! <3

Subbing! I should put together a challenge of my own now that I'm 2 weeks into the school year...

...that scaled "leave school by a reasonable time" goal is so good I'm going to steal it for the next challenge. Yay you!