DJtrippyT

Dear God, he’s preaching to no one just like old times. I’ve never been this happy

Holy SHIT MOTIVATIONAL SCREAMING MAN IS BACK AT THE GYM!!!! WE’RE GOING TO MAKE IT AFTER ALL!!!! https://giphy.com/gifs/csurams-proudtobe-humidv0MqqdO5ZoYhn

I'm getting much better at this! I had a good time for the first run thru, so we'll see if I've improved at all!

I know, I am just the worst. Logging nutrition stuff is so very dreary! I can't begin to make myself do it, plus to be frank it isn't going terribly well. I am trying to not consider the possibility that I am failing at this challenge. I do have positive stuff to report: - I got a mountain bike! And it was free! We were renting bikes at work for events, and it turned out to be such a pain in the ass that bossman discontinued the program. I told him I would buy one of the bikes, but he gave it to me as a bonus. - I am registered for a century (100 miles) bike ride in September, and once payday comes I will register for another one in November; - I got a free registration for a Spartan Sprint race, thanks to a woman I've become friends with thru the races who works for Spartan; I'm doing one July 31st in Asheville (if it's. not sold out) - I *think* I'm signing up for an adventure race in Virginia in August, unless I find another one closer All of those events are within the next 100 days, and we all know how I love a good countdown. Casey Casem is my spirit animal. I've done a bunch of reorganizing and upgrading at our house; I got a patio sail for some shade and hung that, the food forest is doing spectacular (I am currently getting blackberries and strawberries and mulberries, and this year I will get persimmons and figs for the first time, plus a ton of hot peppers of various sorts because it's the only thing I grow well). The nature-y stuff in the garden is really looking good. The pupster is fantastic. I cannot believe I was at one point ready to drown both of us in the bathtub. She is so adorable. Still has the occasional housebreaking issue but we're 90% there, and I've started training her with a target stick and she took to it right away. The Axe Man is utterly useless (in regards to most things, honestly) about the training so I've just decided to release that and deal with it myself, so everyone is happier. The only time I grind my teeth is when he starts talking vaguely about how she "needs to go to puppy school and we need to find a place to take her" and then looks at me with that look that means he wants me to do it. No, mon ami, YOU need to take the tiny computer out of your pocket and do some research. She has another test at doggy daycare next week (there's two places I'm interested in) Work is going pretty well, the last two weeks have been stressful because bossman and his son are taking two vacations this summer and they've just realized they need more money so they are leaning on me a lot to up attendance. Our last event went really well and my every-other-day system is really working, except I'm not using the downtime for myself yet; I'm just catching up on the zillion things I'm behind on. But soon I should get ahead of the game (or at least even) so that I can get some extra time off. Lastly, I went to my mom's two weeks ago and while I was there I organized a picnic party at a local park for her friend group. There are about seven of them and pre-pandemic they got together at least every other week; but of course corona put paid to that, so they hadn't gotten together in over a year. I contacted them all, found the park, ordered food (and then everyone brought food) and they all met there at lunchtime and had the whole afternoon of catching up and just hanging out. They had all seem my mom individually over the course of the year but not each other so there was some teary reunion stuff, but for the most part they just had a lovely time. They are all vaccinated now so they are already planning the next get together, and when I go down next (probably in July) I will plan another outing for them as well. I have bought a bunch of cute new summer clothes, so let's hope things keep improving on the plague front or it will be a real disappointment and waste of money. So, yeah, today is the holiday so I've taken the day off and I'm trying to wrap up all the spring projects so I can relax a bit going forward. - adjust patio sail higher - plant new plants - hang mural decal in bedroom to make a fake window - re-arrange puppy room - clean downstairs bathroom really well Then I have to finish meal prepping for the week (just breakfast and lunch food). I read a really good book on how we form habits and I'm using what I learned to improve my eating, specifically lunch, which is the meal I'm most likely to fuck up. I love these fizzy kombucha drinks I get at Publix, but I always feel bad drinking them because they are $3 a pop; the habit book talked about how you need to have a reward for the habit you are trying to entrain, so I decided whenever I eat at home instead of going out to lunch, I can have a kombucha with it, guilt-free. It really works, too. And just one meal at home as opposed to out covers the whole week's worth of fizzy drinks, and they are made with stevia so there's essentially no calories. Win-win. I think that's all the new stuff, so maybe I had more to say than I thought. Oh, I watched a youtube video by a lifestyle guru that I like about how to start normalizing life post-pandemic, and he was talking about how important it is to start looking forward and making plans again, because we've all been living in limbo for a year and that even if you make travel plans and then have to adjust them it gets your brain back in the mindset of anticipating fun things, so I talked to Axe Man and we are going to go on vacation in December to either Puerto Rico or Honduras so that he can get a break from work (he changed jobs and is now working even MORE hours than he did before, which absolutely boggles my mind) and so that I can finally get my diving certification. I was going to do it last year, and then obviously everything went to hell in a handbasket, and then I was looking at doing it locally earlier this year and just couldn't justify the risk before I got vaccinated, so that's been on my bucket list for some time. For the last two weeks of the challenge, I will log my food into My fitness pal and post the screenshots here, even though it is terribly boring. At least Tank will be happy. I have my next Mock Crossfit Games next Thursday, the 10th, which is conveniently both one of my "off" days and the day bossman flies out for vacation number 1, so they won't know I'm lifting instead of working. I haven't gotten a housecleaner because money has been tight and I can't manage the expense, so I don't know if that will get fulfilled. I am going to get the carpets cleaned even if I have to do it myself (which I almost certainly will). Okay, NOW I am finished. Sorry.

My mom is a morning talker. I always forget that. 😕

yesterday, day 1, was not great, but not awful. Mostly I was a zombie still from the weekend. I never got my workout in. today feels a bit better, I got a good nights sleep and I got up early enough to take the cat to the vet (cat #2) so he could get his nails clipped and worm meds. I've been needing to do that for a couple of weeks. The other cat will go next week for her nails and then all the pets will be good. Axe man is off today, so I'm at the coffee shop, hammering lattes and trying to get two day's worth of work done in one day. Tomorrow I go down to my mom's for the rest of the week, which I don't really want to do but she's got doc appts that we need to get her to and my college roommate is in town with his sort-of-fiance so I want to see them. I'll bring my bike and I've got a kayak day planned with the roommate. I feel a little stalled, but that's just the post-event tiredness. I did something supremely useful yesterday, I was putting notes in my journal and I went back and looked at my entries for this time last year and two years ago. Two years ago I have many of the same grumbles and discontents, which can be frustrating but also oddly comforting; perhaps it's just the human condition to be slightly disgruntled with your fitness and haircut. But 12 months ago I was at absolute rock bottom. I'd just been told by my (now full-time) job that we might go out of business and my boss didn't know when I'd get paid, if ever; my mom was in and out of the hospital (she was at the tail end of her recovery then, but we didn't know that; it just seemed like it would go on forever); Axe man had just lost his job because of covid, and I don't know what else - I think I had a flat tire or something. I mean, it was BAD. I was doing the math about how long it would be before we lost our house, and searching for a cargo van or something similar that I could live in when that happened. (For the record, Axe man thought I was completely overreacting and everything would be fine). We didn't have the puppy then. It's hard to go back and read that stuff - I had my hand pressed over my mouth trying not to hyperventilate, remembering how awful everything seemed, like I was watching a horror movie - but as stressful as the re-reading was, it was a great example of how resiliant we can be. I don't really think of myself as being particularly good under pressure, but damn I dealt with some SHIT and now I'm here. So there's no reason I can't continue to improve. Did I just write a fucking Drake song? Maybe. How embarrassing.

Monday. Not much to report, since it is just day one, and I worked my event this weekend, and it went really well. I packed a cooler with nutritious food so that as I was working the overnight I just made myself the occasional sandwich (turkey or chicken salad). yesterday I slept virtually all day; when I was awake I was just sitting at the table surfing youtube. Dinner was hot dogs. This morning I slept a bit late, did some stretching, and ate some breakfast casserole I made thursday that needed to be finished off, and some avocado. And tea. I'm scheduled to ride my bike today, but it's going to rain all day so I'll go to the gym instead. It's payday so I'm going to order my replacement bike rack finally. And pay the cable bill. I would actually like to sleep all day today but I can't. SOMEBODY can, though.

thanks! you are too kind Always and forever

This is part two of my three-cycle challenge. So some stuff will carry over and a couple of things will be added. If you want a detailed rundown of what I am doing, you can read it here. Into the breach! My Goals to slay the nutrition monster are mostly the same: - The Queen must eat at least twice a day. Fasting is no longer allowed in this kingdom. - there must be two forms of cooked protein in the refrigerator at all times. - There are no forbidden foods, only items that should be approached with moderation. - I must keep a lunchbox packed and with me at all times, with a sandwich or wrap or similar that I really like, so that I won't resort to drive-thru or other trash food. - I can eat as many green/low carb vegetables as I want with meals. Carby stuff like sweet potatoes and plantains in moderation. The addition is: - for the first two weeks of the challenge I will track my macros and aim to be between 175-200 grams of carbohydrate a day this is a terrifyingly high amount of carbs for me, but I want to get a baseline and see how I feel. I plan to be pretty active, so I might just burn it off. Or my body recomposition may stall. Can't know until I test it. For the Overwhelm monster: - I will work four 10 hour days a week, on a rotating schedule so that I am never more than two days out from a full day off. - I will not multitask. When I am working, I am working, not also doing laundry and training the puppy and scheduling an oil change. - No work phone before 9 am - No work phone on my weekend day off - No work at night after I've shut down for the day. The additions will be: - I will hire someone to help me do a large, spring-cleaning type deal at our house. Then I will decide if I can afford to have them come once a month. - I will use some of my reclaimed time for myself, to get some outdoor adventure or chill time or whatever. I am required to do this 1 afternoon a week. The fun stuff: As described in my previous challenge, I am doing a re-creation of Day 1 of the 2018 Crossfit games as a sort of fun benchmark to see if my fitness is improving. Four times over the four months I will do the following (all in one day, maximum of 1 hour break between workouts) 10 mile bike ride 30 pullups for time IRM lift: Deadlift, Squat, OH press 1mile kayak/1 mile trail run/1 mile kayak I did this once already, and it went pretty well, so I'm looking forward to doing it again. I'm trying to stretch my budget to work with a trainer once a week, or biweekly. and that's about it! I had to jump to get this posted 'cause y'all are ON IT and I didn't want to be late.

That is... considerably grosser than expected

I'm stealing this gif!

Okay, into the final bit of the first third of the challenge and I am feeling - I am almost afraid to say this - really good about it! Saturday turned out quite nice, if a bit busy. Besides the whole mom-and-squirrel issues (despite my urgings, she would NOT keep it as a pet, so maintenance came and safely relocated it outdoors) I did domestic rangering and then we went camping overnight at Stone Mountain. I wanted the pupster to have her first overnight camp and that place is really close to home, so if she got freaked out or cold I could pop her in the car and get her home, and then go back and get my camp gear the next day. But she was a champ! I had smartly brought her dog blanket (I washed it first) and put it in the tent when it was bedtime, and as soon as she saw it she was like "oh! we're sleeping now!" and flopped right out. She slept thru the whole night, despite there being an actual shooting about eight sites down, with police cars and everything. Axe Man was there as well, he met us there after work and in the morning he made us a lovely camp breakfast. Pupster got a couple of really nice walks in as well - so many new things to sniff! - so that was a definite success. Then Axe Man took her home and I spent Sunday up where the race will be this weekend, double-checking locations against our maps. I do this for my own knowledge, I don't have to do it, but I feel a lot better at the events if I do and I made them pay for the gas. Bossman is still eerily calm and in a good mood, which is great because the week before an event is always Maybe he's like a serial killer and this is his cooling-off period. Or maybe he got some properly adjusted pharmacuetical help. Either way it's great. I may have a doctor phobia myself but I am all for other people getting the help they need. Yesterday was also slightly exciting, we had a tornado pass thru Atlanta and I spent about 45 minutes in the basement bathroom with all the pets. It passed about 3 miles west of us, I think. I'm ashamed to say my primary concern while I was cowering in the basement was that my car wasn't in the garage and I JUST took collision off the insurance. This week will be busy because I have the event this weekend, but after that we don't have one in July (the only month we don't have one) so if I can get to the other side of this I can relax a little. We're hiring some more staff, too, as I mentioned earlier. Rest of it: - liquid calories: this is still a work in progress, I have had a few coffees when I'm really tired and a soda with lunch when I had mexican food yesterday. - lunchbox: meh, haven't really gone anywhere the this week so far - missing workouts: still an issue, but improving. I was supposed to hike this morning but it's still raining and someone had turned up the gravity on my bed. I could NOT get up. I haven't done any fasting or weird eating patterns, so that's a big improvement from the beginning of the challenge. The overwhelm part of the challenge has been an absolute revelation. Who knew that I wasn't actually a complete failure with no organizational skills (or indeed, the motivation to get out of bed), but merely someone who needed a goddamn day off once in a while? My alternate-day schedule is working really well, nobody even notices and I'm just as productive but I don't feel like I'm so buried in to-do lists that I want to lock myself in a closet. Next part of the challenge will be to start using some of that downtime to do things that I enjoy, not just additional domestic rangering. I re-read a book I have call Microadventures (I think @Xena has this book too) and the mini-camping trip this weekend was partly inspired by that. I almost didn't go, I was thinking I would stay home and do more yardwork, but I reminded myself that in ten years I will remember that first camping trip with the pupster, I won't remember at all that I didn't get the strawberries transplanted. I already have a kayaking daytrip planned for a couple weekends from now. So that is it for this part of my three-cycle challenge. I haven't seen much change in my body composition yet, but I feel a ton better and way less stressed. This first segment was really more about just stopping the boat from taking on water; the next challenge I'll get the sails up and start moving forward. I feel like that metaphor was terrible. Oh, last thing, I had a close friend call me last week and tell me he was starting his own production company, and offered me a position there. My immediate reaction was, "no, I'm done with that world and I want to move on" but I pondered it over the weekend, and also while I was trapped in the basement because there was a witch on a bicycle flying past the house, and then I decided my decision was "Oh, HELL NO, I'm done with that world and I want to move on." I told another friend later that day, "I've made every mistake in that business you can think of, and a bunch you can't even imagine. I want to go make NEWER, DIFFERENT mistakes somewhere else." So that was a big deal for me, to let go of that security blanket. I don't know how long I will work where I am now (that largely depends on bossman's level of crazy) but I know I won't retread to what I was doing before. I'm done there. See you on the other side, nerds!

My mom just called to tell me she opened her broom closet and a flying squirrel jumped out at her. Never a dull moment, that woman