kylesolo

I like that confidence! I'm not totally at the Iron Chef place in my life yet, but soon, I hope! It would be so nice to get to that point - I know how to make certain recipes from scratch, but I'm not totally confident playing with ingredients because when I do it all turns into omelets... The other issue is that, given the store I can walk to, there's not a lot I can get for protein - they have tofu and quinoa, but no jackfruit, no tempeh, no seitan, no vegetarian oyster sauce, etc. etc. etc. - and that's more what it's for, those obscure ingredients that I may not be able to get at the grocery store (also, I'm not totally comfortable cooking food a week in advance - I've tried, and I'm getting better, but I'm still not there yet.

Thanks, I'm hoping it's planned out well - it's a lot easier to make the small changes... so hopefully it works out. I'm not studying anything, I'm teaching! Which means school is extra crazy because I have planning and testing and so on to take care of, and it usually happens weeks one and two.

(Let's hope my attempts are better than this) So, as a brief recap from last time - I did okay! But vacation got in my way (look, I found something to blame!) and I backslid - I got a number of my goals done, some I didn't achieve how I want to, and there are some areas where I need some work. So let's work on this challenge. 1. FOOD In the last challenge, my goal was to plan out one week's worth of meals. I did it! I don't know that I necessarily like that, and I don't know that I'm the kind of person who can do that over and over and over again, week in and week out. So, I'm going to modify that a little bit. My goal is to cook at least 2 meals per week, preferably more. I'd like to plan out what those two meals are ahead of time so that I'm not sitting on the couch browsing through different cook books until it's 10 at night and I decide not to eat anything at all. This is a case where a grocery service might help? I've never used one so I'm not totally clear on the specifics, but I'll figure it out. This should hopefully be somewhat easier as breakfast is accounted for with eggs or a protein shake, so it's really only other meals I'm looking at. Problems will involve going out to eat - I know there are already scheduled times coming up where that will happen, so... I'll try to make sure to eat before hand, or at least spend some time thinking over the menu before I order. Not a big issue, but something to think about. A - Plan more than 2 meals per week, do shopping in advance, be mindful when eating out C - Plan 2 meals per week 2. EXERCISE Exercise I can do - I've been doing it, but this past week hasn't been great. So I figure, make it a goal, right? Feel the burn? Whatever I'm supposed to call it. I need to work out (body weight/gym) two to three times a week, and then do yoga in between, at least once. With my dog, I'm doing the walking (hurrah!), but I've got to do more than that. A - Work out more than 2 times a week, do more than one session of yoga a week, keep active in general C - Work out twice a week and do one session of yoga 3. SLEEP Yeah, I still need to work on this one. This involves going to bed at a reasonable hour, not getting distracted by technology, and making sure that I'm sleeping and well rested at appropriate times. I need to look into various apps to stop me from getting distracted, which I know exist but I don't know if they work on Windows. I'd rather spend nights reading or practicing diagramming sentences than falling into the wikipedia wormhole. A - Go to bed by 10:30 PM three or more nights a week. C - Turn off all electronics by 10:00 PM three or more nights a week, but read or work on other things afterwards. 4. PLAN I'm going to Australia in December. This is exciting! However, I need stuff - and that includes travel gear, luggage, and plane/train tickets for traveling between destinations when I'm there. It also involves looking at my finances and making sure I'm not blowing all my money now, because that would suck. The goal is to get gear (practical gear, not fun gear - like adapters and luggage stuff and hats, not any big electronics) and also figuring out flights/train tickets for when I'm there - I know about the budget airlines. I also want to try to narrow down my list beyond just going to the reef. Skydiving? The bridge? Hanggliding? How expensive are all of these? Where can I do them at? That kind of thing. By the end of the month I want to have transportation between cities figured out and at least one piece of equipment. Oh, and I need to find somebody who can watch my dog - right now I've got somebody who has to pay $250 for two weeks, but I want to see if I have other people who will be around during the holidays. As I see it now, the biggest struggle is school starting back up. Usually, the first two weeks of school, I'm in crisis mode running around trying to fix everything. Seeing, though, as how this is my fourth year, hopefully things will look up. I don't know. We'll see.

Alright, I've been away and I should update... I've done okay. I was in Michigan for a week at a family reunion, and exercising and going to sleep on time wasn't my first priority - though I did exercise - I swam a mile in the lake, I went for a two-mile run, and so on - but no real time working out or going to bed early, just time hanging out with family who I don't always see. I could have done better in some regards. I also could have done worse. I did one day of yoga while away (on a paddleboard!) but I didn't remember everything I should have done so it could have been better. I did fairly good at meditation. Sleep? No. I think the only way I'm justifying it now is that I had plenty of time to sleep in, and upon returning I essentially slept for about thirty hours straight, so... that's an area that needs work. Unfortunately I lost my sleep mask so now I've got to get a new one. Grr. Long story short - I could have done better. Meditation is fairly solid. Tickets were bought. I made a one-week meal plan and mostly stuck to it. Sleep is still an area to work on. I need to figure out how to do this. (I also need to really kick it into gear in terms of exercise and diet - but now that things are winding down - family reunion is over, school is starting back up in a few weeks - I should be able to focus more on that).

Sorry for not replying - a week without internet will do that... I've heard of those play competitions! I took a playwriting class in college; that would have been fun. This is through NYC Midnight and they do a screenwriting competition as well - I've never written one, though, so I'm not sure how that compares to writing a play. That definitely sounds a lot more social, at least, than this, which involved a lot of writing alone - though I would like to make use of other readers now that I know a little bit more. Here's the link to the story I wrote: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63AVakme1GUdU1OTURKaDlJbWs/view?usp=sharing - I've gotten some good feedback already from other writers. I definitely fell victim to some issues with trying to do too much with too little word count - I think this would have worked better if it were a bit longer.

Yeah, I went scuba diving once before when I was a kid and I really liked it - and since then I've wanted to get certified but I haven't gotten around to it, for a variety of reasons - number one, of course, being the recurrence of these stupid seizures. Ah well. I'd love to scuba dive and see the barrier reef before it totally disappears (which seems like is happening), but even seeing it at all should be an amazing experience. Good call on the hiking tours - I'm actually starting to look through some of the touristy things to do, so I'm excited to see them. Mostly when I travel, I pick one or two things I really want to do, and then just kind of improvise the rest of it. Awesome - I'd have loved to see the Mayan sites. I was in Cabo when I went to Mexico - and we did more kayaking/ziplining/swimming type stuff - I really want to go to Puerto Vallarta or the Yucatan, but like you said - there are so many other places I want to go see! The writing contest is something a coworker told me about - it's called NYC Midnight. There are a couple of different ones, but I'm in the flash fiction challenge, where they give you a genre, a location, and an object you have to use, and you have 48 hours to write a story of 1,000 words or less. I got assigned action/adventure (?), a reservoir, and a beer keg, which seems okay but action/adventure, as a genre, is sort of loosely defined and I worry that I veered more into thriller or horror, but I got it done, which I'm fairly happy about, even if I get zero points. It's one of those things I've always thought about but always figured I wouldn't do because other people are better than me... and then I figured, well, might as well do it and say that I've tried instead of doing nothing and wishing I was better.

Let's go through this: 1. I was nominally successful last week - I only went to bed early two nights in a row... but it's better than going to bed early zero nights in a row. Maybe not what I want, but... I'm feeling good about it. I went to bed at 7 last night, but that was partly because I'm sick. 2. I have been meditating like a champ - almost every day at this point! And that includes in a car on the way back from hiking on Saturday while everybody else (except the driver) were playing Pokemon Go. I need to do more of the yoga - I met my target last week, but today I don't think I'm going to actually get out and exercise (I'll pick that up tomorrow) so I should do yoga. Maybe after I walk to the store. Or before? 3. I've been following my food plan, with the exception of yesterday when I didn't want to eat anything because I was sick... I did, though, eat the giant super salad I made (really good, making that again) as well as part of today - when I could barely stomach down food at all this morning (I had some salad again... I made a lot!). I'm finally getting hungry which means I need to walk to the store to get the tomatoes for spaghetti squash. 4. Tickets are bought, woo-hoo! (Now I can actually start planning what I want to do). In addition - the first week's task of three hours of travel - I didn't think I was going to get it done, but some friends and I decided to go hiking, and we went to a spot I'd wanted to go to for a while - super easy, despite being uphill, and not very crowded, which meant that we got to see a ton of lakes, hike for a while without getting super exhausted, and go for just under 15 miles without feeling terrible about our choices (bubble tea!)

I didn't think I was going to be able to get this one, but then I went on a six and a half hour hike today, so... victory!

Thanks, but don't be jealous - my last vacation like that was over six years ago, and even then I was only in Mexico for a week. I'd love to go back - what area were you in? Plans? I wish I had more of an itinerary. I'd love to hang out by the beach but I know I'd get bored... one of the reasons I wanted to go up to Cairns was to see the Great Barrier Reef, so I'm hoping to do that - and while scuba diving would be fun, I'm not certified and I'd need to check with my neurologist first anyway... hiking would be fun, though I'm definitely nervous about seeing any of the many deadly animals in the area. I'm kind of an adrenaline junkie, so I'd love a chance to go skydiving or bungee jumping or hanggliding - but buying tickets was my first priority; I haven't actually sat down and planned anything out yet (I tend not to make strict plans for vacations, and usually end up teaming up with random people I meet, which has worked out well so far!) Tell me about the sleep schedule. I'm dog tired, but I entered this writing contest and I want to bang out a first draft before I head to bed tonight.

Sydney for a few days, then Coff's Harbour, and then I'll be spending most of my time in Cairns, by the water, in the sunshine. That's all I want. Of course, to feel comfortable enough to get to that point, I'm going through a lot of this - I don't have a scale/access to a scale, but measurements are working well. I realize, of course, that my upcoming family reunion will do nothing to help with my goals, but luckily it's at a lake and I'll have an excuse to get moving... so I've just got to get a handle on my food intake while I'm there (and also my alcohol intake, we are an Irish family after all).

Yeah, I'm super excited. I've heard that about Melbourne, and I'm stopping off fairly close to it - but unfortunately, I won't be there for very long. Still - this is a dream I've had for a while, so I'm super excited to have it actually be in the works!

Oh, and in other news: I officially accomplished number 4 and my plane tickets are purchased. Did I get them for as cheaply as I would have liked? Absolutely not. But I got them and they're confirmed. Anybody have any idea about travel insurance? Also, I made a food schedule! I'm pretty excited about it. It's basic, and I'm making ample use of leftovers - I bought everything yesterday and I'm feeling good... though I had a bit of a rough start this afternoon, but I'm on track, ready to snack, and should be better at getting this in gear. I went to bed early last night. I hope I can stick with it today as well - that's hardest of all. I've noticed sleep meditation seems to help, though I'd like to get to a point where I can do it on my own.

That's an awesome resource, thanks for sharing! I looked into it and I already saw somebody I work with... will need to explore this further!

Oh thanks, that makes sense! I wasn't sure... too bad that's not happening in two weeks when I'm going to be outside for a week straight! I'll do my best to move more, but we'll see.

This has been a weird weekend in terms of life. I'm going to blame my birthday because I can (It was only three days ago! It still counts!). Lots of sleeping, lots of not eating, lots of drinking, lots of detoxing, lots of... well, lots of lots of stuff. Here are things of note: 1. Sleep - NOPE! Did not go to sleep early/on time. This is my first night not being out late. I will try to go to bed early tonight, tomorrow, and Wednesday, or Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. 2. Yoga and meditation - ON TRACK FOR THE WEEK. I did yoga yesterday. I meditated upon finishing my workout. It was really helpful, especially with some of my areas of concern - namely anxiety and feelings of rejection... anything that allows me to clear my head is a good thing. 3. Planning for food - NOPE! I will still blame my birthday, although that's not accurate - I just haven't sat down and done it. I need to sit down and make plans this week. That's okay. I can do that. I'd like to get this done before going to Michigan. 4. Tickets for Australia - NOPE! I was working on getting airline tickets for my dog squared away for the family reunion - nobody was able to watch her, so I'm bringing her with because it would be much cheaper than the pet hotel at this point. I worry about what I'll do with her when I'm in Australia, though... we'll see. Need to square that up as well, hopefully soon? That's a long time and I worry about her... In terms of general fitness, I did alright. I got about twenty minutes of walking in over the weekend, what with having to bus out to the city to meet friends... and a bit more from doing one of those escape-the-room games with family and taking the dog on a walk (so about thirty minutes total so far). Lack of sleep caught up with me upon returning home from work and I fell asleep for five hours (I'm sure not taking my wakefulness pills had a hand in that as well...). I'm feeling better after the weekend. I'm on my annual post-birthday detox, which is good to give my body some time to flush toxins/alcohol/let it have a rest. What is the group quest thing? How do we report it? Do we fail if we don't participate?