Kishi

These days, mostly Muay Thai and BJJ, although my history is in Shotokan as filtered through K-1. I've got a little judo in there too, but it's honestly not very good.

What about regular potatoes? If sweet potatoes are okay on paleo, then so should the regular kind be, and they're a useful source of starch and fiber if your paleo journey allows you this. Also, cool to hear that you do taiji! What style do you do?

It's a fight, ngl. * T-minus a few days. So far so good. The biggest problem is that I'm trying to get my training done in the morning, and because I'm rushing, I tend to forget my breathing. That feels portentous. I'm willing to give myself half-points for getting my daily work done, as the goals are basically add-ons to processes presently ongoing, but that would defeat the purpose of building new habits and new practices. So. Something to keep in mind. Meditation has happened. Wim Hof Method has not; that's actually going to be tricky, because the only place I can really think to find/make time is during the day, and that's going to involve being intentional. That'll be a challenge. I've given myself over to work really hard in order to control for the things I don't control; I don't get up and take walk breaks anymore and I get so lost in the grind that it's really easy to lose track of time. Also, it's hot outside. Wet heat in the 90s Fahrenheit. Not great. :( Still, I want to do this. And I don't control the weather, so I'm just going to have to make it work. I do get my quotas done ahead of time, generally; maybe that's the time to do the thing. Something to test out here in the middle of nowhere.

Well, howdy there, folks! Good to see you again, or for the first time. I'm Kishi, a monk prone to itineracy and general quietude. I hope you are well. I had a challenge last time and I disappeared. Unfortunately, I can't say it's because I was really doing my challenge, but fortunately I can say it wasn't for any dramatic reasons. Life just got busy, and instead of developing my meditation like I told myself to, I found myself falling back on a lot of other challenge habits like my cleaning and my writing. I'm pleased to say those are all doing better, and my own drilling/shadowboxing/chess and such are doing better too as I've been prioritizing mat time and responding to the input I get from people. Also, the reward I chose for myself came to make less sense, and I just didn't feel driven to press the reset button. I guess to continue the game metaphor, I got lost in the side quests, and by the time I cared about my main, the game was over. But you may notice I have a meditation tag again, along with some others, and I reckon that deserves some explanation. My reasons for meditation, beyond the mental health benefits, are also physiological: I have heart issues to worry about at the ripe old age of 36, and meditation is a useful practice for heart health. Fortunately, there's good science to say I need less of it than I've been trying for to get the benefits I want. Which is good news. More is not always better; sometimes it's just more, and in order for more to be better, sometimes it has to be less. Because less is more. Huh. Right. Cool. There's some other stuff going on too. I've finally returned to striking sparring, and it's proving to be a real shock to the system. The caliber of striking here is relatively high compared to what I've seen in a while, and it's Thai-Dutch style boxing, which means high volume striking at close range with the head as a viable target. It's a lot to work with, and this in a hot academy in the opening of an NC summer. It's not going to get colder. So I need to work on my conditioning; going back to the GST folk, the two recommendations they have are running and skipping rope. Running would take a lot of time and wouldn't come with the coordination benefits or the raw lightness of foot that comes from constant bouncing, so skipping rope it is. Another thing I need to work on is my recovery. I've been using glucosamine to help out with joint pain, and while I did find an effective brand, it's also pricey, and I'm getting real sick of having as little money on hand as I do at the end of the month. (especially since my job is just being icky with pay right now). So I'm looking into recovery methods and found the work of a Shaolin monk named Shi Yan Lei, which I'm finding fascinating on account of his pedagogical preferences. He has a book on qigong for longevity, which I'm willing to gamble would help with recovery, so I'mma do it. My goal with this is to deal with and prevent joint pain over time without having to go the supplement route. Between this and the mobility training in GST, I'm hopeful. The goals are as follows: Goal 1: Training The qigong routine calls for 3-4 times per week, but before I even get into that, I need to learn to breathe. Shi Yan Lei calls for a kind of "reverse breathing" in his method, which is a kind of chest breathing for energy. I need to practice that first before I even get into adding extra movement. Also, the skipping rope is going to be done 1-2 times per week to start with, per the recommendations of the Jump Rope Dudes and Crossrope. These will be very small practices: 5 breaths, and skipping for 1 minute, because what I need is consistency right now and something to build on. These are being lumped onto/into my general training as it stands, so this is really about making the logs simple. Goal 2: Meditation Meditate 10 minutes a day after whatever nightly stretching I'm doing. I've fallen into the evening routine of coming home from mat time, showering off, and stretching while warm. This is a really freaking nice way to end the day. Meditation afterward would suit, I think. Goal 3: Breathe So, out of left field: the Wim Hof Method, which is fantastic for grappling because it teaches you not to be afraid of time without air. I just grapple better when I'm doing this. I like grappling better. I like the lack of fear, and I'm already taking cold showers these days just as it is. Might as well complete the process. As to my reward? Well, if I get the breathing right, I'll be taking the next challenge to begin work on movement. But Shi Yan Lei isn't just talking about movement. He's also talking about massage, with a possible avenue toward Iron Shirt training. This would be incredibly useful and has been something I've tried to cultivate on my own without any success. The Shaolin method for this training involves the use of very specific brushes to massage the body. The first step would be a bamboo brush. This is used in conjunction with the qigong program anyway, so once I've demonstrated my seriousness to myself, I'll reward myself with the brush. These goals excite me. Can't wait to get started... so. Might as well.

Well! Here we are at the end of it. The challenge... didn't go badly? But really, it just kind of... stopped. No excuses, and no real explanation to speak of, except that I guess this wasn't as important to me as I thought it was? Or else I would have made the time for it. Well, sometimes challenges just go that way. I seem to have been caught up in the busyness of things and haven't really carved out the time for myself that I thought I would. That also means I didn't wind up here or out handing with the rest of you and doing what I volunteered to do. That's my bad. Sorry about that. Still, I've got something cooking that I think will work with the way things are now, and I reckon it should be fun next go 'round. See y'all then!

Huh. Just came back to get in the swing of things, and... this.

Goal: 12/25 Whoof. Mat time did not happen on Tuesday. Had to stay late to work on some things; like I said, my situation was much better than I thought it would be, but I didn't work it well enough to keep on the track I need to keep on. Wednesday, I was able to meditate and then make it out for mat time. Striking went well. Grappling did well in terms of studying and applying what I saw, but when it came time to spar, I got smashed. Eh. Whatever. Today, I had a Dr's appt, and so I'm going to try to get as much done as I can this afternoon, but there's a good chance that I'll be stuck working and won't make the mats tonight. I did my training early this morning, though, so I should be able to get down relatively early and promote a virtuous rather than a vicious cycle. And hey, who knows? Maybe I'll be able to make it tonight. Only one way to find out.

Goal: 11/24 Good. I'm back on track. Sunday and Monday were busy enough in terms of spending time with family that I could really only make time for like a minute or so before drifting off to sleep. There was still value in it, though, if for no other reason than that it punched the card and kept me moving. Or still, as the case may be. Sunday I peopled pretty hard. My out of town librarian friend was back in town and wanting to hang so we brunched and then I went to visit my folks. No work, curiously enough. That happened on Monday, but surprise surprise, my brother showed up as he managed to get the day off, so we got a lot done on the deck, about to the point where I thought we'd be by the time I had to go back to the job. I feel a lot better about our progress. Came back to the job today and was pleasantly surprised to find that not only did my bosses help me with opening my cases last week, they also helped me with closures too. So I came back to a way better situation than I was expecting to, which is always nice. Unfortunately, I was still behind on enough that I had to stay late at work and I wound up missing out on mat time. (No mat time on Monday because of the holiday). But! I'm caught up now, and I reckon that I should be able to resume normal mat time come tomorrow. I'm trying to get as much done as early as possible tonight to make that easier.

Yeah, it's the same here. Somehow, there's always money for tax cuts and raising the legislature's pay, but never enough to take care of the rest of us. Thanks, man. That means a lot. I've found it to be much the same: I've got older and realized there's a lot of life happening elsewhere, and I don't want to miss out. Generally, I don't regret my choices, but there's still some tension that has to be worked out sometimes. Also, good to see you about again! Of course, I had to go ahead and disappear for a while, which means I left you hanging. I'm sorry about that. * Goal: 8/21 So what the hell happened? Eh. Eeeeeeh. That's what happened. Okay, so, gist of the past week and change has been that every moment has been dedicated to being out and helping my Dad. When I wasn't doing that, I was out on the mats or doing chores back here. And it's been enough to keep me relatively fried; I've been prioritizing solitude and rest, although I've still been doing physical exercises as my body allows because that's its own kind of rest to me. Mat time's been good. Got the better of some beginners in the beginner's grappling class, and I also got cleared to spar in the striking class! Which was a surprise. I'm pleased to report that I'm still mostly sharp, but I've also got some bad habits that haven't been corrected in a long time. Gonna have to do something about that. But, yeah. Things and stuff have been mostly good. But I've not really had the time or wherewithal to get after meditation like I told myself I would. I didn't even think to try to do a few minutes a day or anything like that; it wasn't the old "All or Nothing" mindset so much as a constant sense of being driven toward something and not making even a little bit of time. At this point, it's not possible for me to hit 80% no matter what, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to keep working on meditation. I think I'm going to take this moment to remind myself that if I care about this, it's up to me to make time, even if it only works out to being a little. Fortunately, it isn't just the meditation that's suffered, so I'm confident saying that I didn't sabotage myself via mindset. Anyway. It's a new day. I'm pleased to say that the project Dad had to do, which we thought would take a week, was done in 3 days, because I am a strong help. There's more to do; sadly I can't take more time to help him beyond the odd holiday and weekend. I feel badly about that, but it is what it is, and it can't be helped. Fortunately, Dad's really pleased with how much we got done, and he thinks I should be proud of myself. That does take some of the sting out of it.

Wow, so wait, what's the market like up there? Is it as crazy there as it's got down here?

Nope! 🙃 * Goal: 8/12 Missed mat time yesterday by dint of not getting enough work done to get my closures where I need them to be. Had to be ruthless. Wound up going home and working overtime instead. Which isn't all that bad. I could use the money. Writing out earlier this week that I was dealing with a temporary logistical problem was majorly helpful in terms of keeping my head on straight about the whole thing, though. And I did watch videos and drill last night, and it's not the same thing at all but it at least helped me feel better. I need to figure out what proper visualization looks like with grappling drills; I can do it a little with striking and some standing work, but I haven't really figured out what to imagine with every drill just yet. But hey, at least that gives me a way to progress even when I'm not on the mats. I know that visualization with shadowboxing has done a lot to keep my skills sharp. There's good reason to expand this practice. One nice thing about being off work next week is that I'll be able to get back on the mats again. It'll be tiresome after working on home improvement stuff all day, but I'll take what I can get. But otherwise, life carries on. Got word that new analysts for the agency are getting a pay bump which, after all the budget stuff happens, will have them making more money than me. The directorate's gone to ask for more money for us, which is nice. Need to keep my ear to the ground on that. Dunno if we have the ability to go on strike, but might need to take some sick days at some point if I get nauseated by their nonsense.

I've not heard of that study, but I've seen lots of programs (most notably Simple and Sinister) which reference that phenomenon, and I've seen it. There's definitely something to it, and the advice that's in vogue these days tends to emphasize daily effort, so yeah. Cool! Well, I'll leave you to it, then. 👍

Well, money's pretty tight. At the end of the month, I've got less than $100 to my name, so the notion of spending more money just doesn't seem reasonable. Frozen food 1) works out to being more expensive in the long run and 2) generally doesn't play nicely with my Hashimoto's. There are frozen options that do, but they're the most expensive of an already expensive option, so I'm reluctant to work with that. Paper dishes might be an option! I hadn't thought about that; I'll take a look after class tonight and see if I like them. I mean, overall I'm staying even, but I'm not getting ahead of it, and ahead is where I want to be. Might be a symptom of a systematic problem that I can't really do anything about. Also, cleaning party rotation with friends works out to way more benefit for them than me, because they have houses and all I have is a studio. I do try to be selfless, but I'm not that selfless. No money. Money's actually doing worse now, thanks to all our prices being up. And the budget apparently only has enough for a 2.5% raise when prices are up 9.1%. So I get to keep this job for a pay-cut. Neato~. 🙄 Although, it's not like everyone else is doing better around here, so. * Goal: 8/11 Not much to report about yesterday. Meditation and research and... that's basically it. Took the night to do chores like I needed to, and it's good that I did. Was able to get to bed earlier last night; I've got a long term project to get myself up early enough to do S&C before going to the office. This is helped by my boss's lax attitude about being on time, something I'm profoundly grateful for. I've timed myself and I could probably get away with that now if I wanted to? But I'd be late enough for it to be notable and for it to have affects on my productivity, and she won't be able to ignore it if that happens, and it seems kind of abusive besides. Don't want to do that. Everything's set up for me to get back on the mats tonight, so that should be good. But that's contingent on how much work I get done today. So. Best be about it.

Ugh, I feel this in my soul. Seems like no matter what time I get to bed, once it gets too light out, that's it. I lay in bed with my eyes closed because they don't want to open, but that's not really sleep. I hope things work out for them too. I don't know enough about their circumstances to have a good opinion about how they are now, but I do hope they find a good place.

Just keep showing up. That's really all you can do. Fortunately, that's all you need to do.

Right? My brother really challenged me to dig deep into what magic would look like for the locals in my setting. My setting is San Jose, so there's room for a lot of different stuff. So far, I've developed a Neidan-based system (because I wanted a magical martial arts system and didn't want to copy Avatar: TLAB/LOK), and now I'm looking into a Santeria-based system, which if it's going to be respectful and representative of the real-life culture is going to have a lot more moving parts to consider. Lots of reading to do before I get somewhere with that. * Goal: 7/10 One good thing about working in the office: it's easy to divvy up the day and find time to meditate. I'm grateful for that. I've been dealing with some frustration at my circumstances. The girl who I've been rolling with, who started BJJ later than I did, has surpassed me in rank, and while I'm proud of her and congratulatory, it's also really bugged me. Don't get me wrong, I think she deserves it: she's got an encyclopedic knowledge of everything she's studied, and when I've gone to roll at her place, she's actually helped me a lot in terms of brushing up and understanding what's going on. If anything, she's actually been overdue for it. And it's not just her. There's lots of people who started off later than I did who have surpassed me in rank since then. And I do believe they deserve it; they move like they deserve it. I think I'm just frustrated on a couple different levels: on one level, grappling is a lot more complicated than striking is, because you're basically managing your movement and your opponent's movement, and your opponent does not want to be managed and is in fact trying to manage you at the same time. That requires a lot of class time to make work, and that's the other level that I'm frustrated by: I just can't seem to make time as long as I have to be in the office. Like, when I was working from home, I was able to both do work and keep my chores under control, and so I was able to be really consistent with going to the academy and just grinding my way toward something like competence. But I can't do that now. Now when I go home, my laundry's piled up, and my sink is never clean, and there's always stuff to do. It doesn't feel like a choice; it feels like a necessity, and so I do what I have to do, but while I'm doing that, I'm missing out on something that's really important to me and I'm paying a price for it that I don't think the others have to pay. And so I've grown really resentful lately, and there's a really negative voice in my mind that's telling me to embrace the horror and just give up, because this is as good as I'm ever going to get. I can't even outspar people in the beginner's class. And the striking portion isn't ever going to let me spar until I get to 35 classes, which hah, good luck with that as long as this is the way things are. Even if I get there, it doesn't matter if I can't consistently make it to the one class on the one day that it actually happens. Now, to be clear, I understand that this mindset is bullshit. In truth, it's just a temporary logistical problem. As long as I keep my work good, this isn't going to last. Once it's on paper that I'm meeting or exceeding my expectations at work, I'll be able to return to work from home. And when that happens, it's going to solve a lot of work-life balance problems, and I'll finally be free to do what I want to do. But it's not guaranteed that it'll happen. I'm very aware that I control exceedingly little in this place; part of the reason I'm doing so much better is that I've come to understand what I actually control, and I've been ruthless about that while yielding over what I can't. Which is a lot. There's plenty of ways for this to go wrong, and if enough does, then I'll be delayed again. Like, so much of what pushed me to work so hard as I did was the idea that I'd be out from under this thing soon, and now I got to where I thought I was supposed to be and I missed the target. Who's to say that won't happen again? Sigh. Still, if I've got time to complain about it, I've got time to do something about it. So. Head down. Eyes up. Go to work.

FWIW, I think there's a lot of value in that. It's one thing to see where you wanna go; it's another thing to see how you're gonna get there. Y'all need each other. Hope your boss realizes that. Glad to hear that things seem to be settling out, re: the fire. My understanding is that kind of thing can turn quickly, though, so keep us posted. After getting safety, of course, if it comes to that.

Honestly, I'm surprised/impressed that you're willing to do a challenge in the midst of that kind of thing. Take it easy and be safe. Also: THIS IS UNREASONABLY CUTE I CAN'T WHAT EVEN-

Phew! This looks like a pretty rigorous challenge. I think your work is going to be cut out for you. Without wanting to dictate your training to you, I would point out that more is not always better; sometimes it's just more, so be cognizant of it and don't be afraid to back it down if that's what it takes to get the job done. After all, being effective is what Batman's all about.

Well, okay, see, look. After the last challenge, things were good. Things were really good. So I just shifted gears and got onto the next thing that I wanted to work on like it was nothing. And it was so smooth that I pretty much just blended into it without ever really coming back here. I kept telling myself I would, but part of blending into things has been staying busy, so I kept breaking my word to myself that I would come back, and then a whole week was gone. It's been eventful! Among other things: I finally read all of Berserk. For those who don't know, Berserk is the quintessential dark fantasy and has been a major influence on a lot of games and media, most recently Elden Ring. It is a deeply dark and disturbing story, and it's not for everybody, but it's not cheap or schlocky in being so and I find it to be a genuinely profound and moving story. Had my job performance review for the last quarter and I've basically made huge improvements all over the place. In fact, I did so well that I've been removed from remedial supervision and, if I keep this up, I'll be on track for a promotion in the next year. My boss is super-proud of me; I think she wanted me to be surprised and pleased, but I'd kept such close track of my stats that when she said she was proud of me, I thought, "Damn right you are." Still not good enough for me to return to work from home, though. Like I said, I'm out from remedial supervision, but my improvement in my stats happened after the quarter numbers were in. So me being released from supervision was actually my boss going out on a limb for me (although I know she doesn't care for the paperwork, so it's not like she didn't want me out from under her thumb either); I won't be under consideration for working from home until the end of this quarter, and that assumes I stay on top of things. The future is not set in stone. Managed to finish building a magic system and now know it well enough to know what is and isn't a good idea at a given time. Sweet. Now I have to do it again for another system, because. So. At this point, with all cylinders firing, the goal is to make sure they keep doing so. That's going to mean self care, which means meditation and sleep. Meditation is the one I have the more direct control over ATM, so that's what I'll be focusing. I'm up to 14 minutes at a stretch, and I'm finding so far that weekdays are easy. Weekends are hard. No particular reason for it. I've been tracking the number all along as if I was in challenge mode, so I'll just jump in if that's cool with you. Goal: 6/9 As to a reward, I actually think I'm looking at some tube-style exercises bands for grappling work. Need to look into that more, but that's what I find compelling at this point, so. Sorry for being late! I'll be around to y'all just as quick as I can. Hope you've been well.

Y'know, I actually feel the same way. You'll see soon!

Goal 1: 28/34 Goal 2: 28/34 And another week down. Something I didn't plan on when I made the adjustment to my schedule was just how busy it would make me. Basically, from 7:30 in the morning to 8:30 at night, I don't really have a single idle moment. I'm either working to get ready to work, or else I'm working. The result is a kind of paradox where the days crawl and the weeks fly, because there's no real break or delineation in which I can pause and look at things, at least not until the weekend. And since Dad's basically commandeered one of those days, really, I only get one day to kind of pause and breathe and rest. It is what it is. At least the goals have been getting managed. I managed to clear the 80% to earn my win condition, even with the added complication of a second goal, which is nice. I've been able to develop my story and its world to a higher degree than I had previously, and I figured out some things about my characters in the process that I think are going to make them livelier and more distinct. That has to be practiced and applied, of course, and I'm still working on how to do that in the middle of everything else I'm doing, but it's shaping up well. I don't really know what my goals are for the next challenge. Not sure what's constructive at this point. I'm not saying everything's great right now, but I don't really know what adjustments to make, or really what's even realistic given what the next couple months are looking like. I suspect a meditation challenge is coming, but I'm open to other stuff too as it comes.

Yeah, that's part of it. They apparently explained to my folks that between supply costs and people choosing to sit on property rather than move - our market is insane right now - that they're drowning in work. So not only is the price high, but the delay is long too. Dad found that to be unacceptable, so now it falls to me and my brother. Mostly me, since I have some control over my schedule that my brother does not have. * Goal 1: 21/27 Goal 2: 22/27 Well! I haven't meant to be distant or anything, but I've had my nose to the grindstone pretty hard this challenge. Feels like every moment of every day of the past week has been taken by something, and I've been working the job pretty hard. For better or for worse, I find the prospect of returning to work from home to be very compelling, if for no other reason than that it makes my life a lot less complicated. The commute and time in office together represent a bigger logistical hurdle than I'd originally planned, and it's costing me a lot in terms of keeping up my place and doing drills and practice. Also, the job is trying to be difficult: they want to prioritize a bunch of cases that aren't important and won't help me get back to work from home, but I have to at least look like I'm doing something about it. It means recalibrating my work, which is always dicey but I think I can skip the part where everything blows up for a few months. It feels like it's been hard to get back to the mats this week. Monday and Tuesday were nights off on account of chores and social time, so I didn't really get back until Wednesday, and the school was in prep mode for tourney this weekend so the training was pretty hard. As a rule, I don't mind, but I've picked up some rust again and so I spent a lot of time getting submitted rather than actually accomplishing much. There was a training win on Friday in that I was able to make it out to the striking class, which does have sparring! But I wasn't cleared for it because I have to attend a requisite amount of courses, so I got stuck on drills again. Went out to brunch with my folks today since they'll be out of town on the 30th. Dad asked me to take a week off of work in May to come work on the house with him. That, frankly, is going to suck. But I couldn't tell him no. So, I have some complications to navigate now to try to mitigate that. We'll see how it all shakes out. In juggling news, I managed a very sloppy three ball cascade for the first time today! Which is exciting and makes me happy. I've also begun to get some solid thoughts down about what I want my magic systems to look like, which is neatly solving both the writing and research goals at the same time. I still feel like there's a ton more to know, but it's not intimidating. Feels more like finding a new place to explore. It's fun. Anyway, I gotta hit my goals tonight and then get down for tomorrow. Because there's more work to do at my folks' place. Gotta do work to get ready for work to be done. Cool. Cool cool cool.

Nice! Good to see you moving and feeling better.

Goal 1: 14/20 Goal 2: 16/20 Um, so the past few days have been decent from a goals perspective and from a life perspective, but not necessarily from a mats perspective. I had to get my taxes done and that actually took up both my Wednesday and Thursday nights. Friday was a day off because of Good Friday, but I slept in too late for mat time around noon, and I got to hang with my Resident Writer friend in the afternoon into the evening, which I wanted to do, and finally got to pick her brain about how she differentiates voice in characters. She gave me some good advice. It's up to me to follow it, now. Had my first iteration of a week's worth of GST/MMA and I must say, it feels pretty good so far. At this point, it's really a matter of dialing it in and customizing it around what I can actually do, since a big mistake I made last time was forcing myself to attempt movements and positions I really wasn't ready for. A particular point of limitation right now is the flexibility series; this program incorporates stretch routines to develop a Front Split, a Middle Split, and a Thoracic Bridge (which is kind of like a yoga bridge except the legs are extended out and the bend is more concentrated in the thoracic spine rather than the thoracolumbar region). Some of what they want you to do to get into these positions is stuff I can't do, either because I'm not capable yet, or because I don't have the equipment for it. This latter frustrates me because it puts me up against limitations of budget and space, which I'm not too pleased about. Then again, maybe this is a blessing in disguise. The other flexibility/mobility stuff is tied to rehab and lighter/easier versions of those exercises, and drilling down into and focusing on those things may in fact be more beneficial while I work on cleaning up and remaking this space I live in now. I went out to breakfast with my folks this morning. Brother and I got drafted into some home improvement work for my parents. They want to replace the deck out back of their place, and all the pros are too pricey for what they want to do. So, guess I'm going to be spending my Sundays for the next however long doing work for my folks, with help from Brother as he's available and interested in coming in. Always nice to lose a day off. ETA: to be clear, if I'm frank about it, it's actually really good to be helping him out. Dunno how many of you know this by now, but my dad has lived through a heart attack and he's an 80-year old man. He really shouldn't be doing the kind of work he's going to have me doing, and if we can't get a pro to do this, then it should be me, and for my part, I genuinely don't mind when I think about it. If it sounds like I'm blaming someone for costing me some time, I am: I blame the contractors. If they weren't charging so much, Dad could have worked through them instead, but they priced him out, and he does want/need this done, so it falls to me. I dunno why they gotta do us like that, although I suspect it's tied to the housing bubble and them figuring out "what the market can bear." It's not something I know anything about, though. Does make wonder. Anyway, I already know for a fact that I'm not going to regret spending time with him, and it'll be good to be up and about rather than sitting around wasting time watching the same comfort media over and over again.