dancezwithkittehz

I’ve been in a serious winter hermitting for December to now but I EXISTTTTT :D

So I ended out this challenge with a massive 4 1/2 day binge of playing No Man's Sky since it was on sale on Steam and I AM OBSESSED a little maybe. EXPLORE ALL THE THINGSSSSSSSSS! I definitely struggled with my veggie goal this round so I am pondering how to handle that next round more successfully. I think a big part of my struggle right now is it's cold and it gets dark super early and I am in lazy snuggle up in blankets sloth mode all the time with no desire to DO ALL THE THINGS like I normally do. So yeah. Maybe I should embrace the laze (at least a little) and give myself cozyness goals for next round? Brainstorm time!

'Hahah of course. I'll bring my lunch back to eat at my desk if she keeps me occupied all lunch hour but usually it's only half of lunch hour ish haha.

True!

Also in the most me moment ever I realize that I forgot to each lunch because I was too busy playing with the cat and then making bread. Cooking dork cat lady problems. 😂 (Srsly though that cat has me so trained. I feel guilty if I don't play with her or pet her whenever she demands it to the detriment of me having time to eat lunch on my lunch hour etc. But she's so cute! And getting much better socialized and more friendly the more effort I put in sooooo it's worth it!)

Hahahahahahahaha. Yes, definitely! Now I want olives...or pickles...or both..hmm I have both and I didn't eat lunch yet. LUNCH OF CHAMPIONS!

I realize I have been super lazy pants about updating this but I HAVE been actually doing my challenge stuff so yay. How about a cat GIF to spice things up since I've been in a weird too lazy to post mode!

Sameeee. I haven't seen it in far too long. I debated trying to rent it somewhere in prep but not seeing it on any of my usual streaming platforms sadly so I'll have to do without. I think I just need to buy that on DVD so I have it around when I want some good shakespeare comedy/ period comedy type things! Also I TOTALLY had no idea that the actor that plats Wilson on House was in that. It would have been way before I saw House I suppose but OMG. (Also realizing he was in Dead Poet's Society I was like WAIT WHAT how are you in so many good things I forgot about!!)

This is turning out to be a weird few days. Just got news one of my uncles who is sort of estranged from the family and was homeless with lots of health issues passed away yesterday. I have been doing challenge stuff mostly daily though (I was a little low on vegetables yesterday because lunch hour was spent dealing with the mouse situation and that kind of killed my appetite sooo yeah, but it is what it is.) Maybe I will roast some veggies tonight for extra vegetable nom noms. I also have drunk shakespeare again tonight and THANK GOODNESS drinking is encouraged because I'm in a weird headspace and that should help me be in a better mood! We are doing Much Ado About Nothing and I'm playing Borachio. I had debated trying to give myself an evil mustache or something for a costume but I don't think it's going to happen today. We shall see. Maybe I'll get inspired late in the afternoon you never know!

I'm a little traumatized today because I had a mouse in a trap and the trap didn't kill the mousy like it's supposed to so I had to put it out of it's misery and..yeah. Sadness. I wish I could just not use traps and not kill them but cute as they are plague bearing critters in my garage is not OK. Adulting sucks sometimes.

I am envious of your pistols! I really should try to actually work on those... I always end up trying to do these with the non-working leg straight and out at a 90 degree angle and then can't figure out how to squat with my leg in that position and maintain balance. Though TBF I have only been doing banded split squats lately so normal squat position feels weird so I think my first step of homework is do a bunch of bodyweight squats and get used to that position again (even if I keep my weighted squat work as split squats doing body weight squats for volume and mobility should not kill me too much I think. I do a ton of leg shit it's just DANCE so it's from weird positions haha.)

YAAAAS! Pickled and briny things are LIFE. I of course decided to neglect my guitar all weekend again because I feel like torturing my fingers by being super inconsistent. WOOPS. (TBF I usually tend to do guitar M-F and I am notoriously terrible at committing to any kind of set routine on the weekend because FREEDOOOOOM or something.) Also, I am trying to get better at finger strumming and...it is still awkward. Like, I can finger pick OK for riffs and its not awkward but strumming chords without a pick is just weird. Either way too quiet and I miss some of the notes of I discovered if use my nails I can make it sound closer to a pick but like, I don't know which part of the finger I'm supposed to be aiming to use? Finger pads? Nails? Both? Something else? I will keep experimenting and I figure the more I practice the less awkward it will feel.

I bought veggies to cook AND pickles and olives. FLUSH WITH THE NOM NOMSSSSSSS! Meanwhile I have a massive deadline today that I can't work on until I get an email back from someone to approve our memo draft, and it's already noon and I'm trying not to panic. Aaaaaaah! It will work out somehow I suppose. I do think I am going to rally and make it to cards against humanity zoom style tonight because social stuff sounds fun and after today I could use beers with friendsssss (even if remote). Last time we played on Halloween and I wore my Indiana Jones hat and did a silly Indiana Jones cave with the giant ball background and we ended up playing for like 4 hours (half ass, probably most of that spent laughing about stupid things and generally socializing. Good times!) Meanwhile, I finally think? I have figured out what song I want to choreograph to for our little virtual dance show friends and I are putting together so yay. I've always wanted to do something to Imogen Heap "AHA" because it reminds me of a creepy circus kind of feel and it's kind of dark but also fun which is totally my aesthetic. 😂 OH! And I finally picked up my damn guitar for the first time in a week? Maybe 2? Not sure (once again I barely remember election week soo). And HOLY CRAP I did not neglect practicing for THAT long and yet my fingers were SO MAD and I had to cut it off at about 10 min of practice. I have been really working on my grip strength with my X3 bar deadlifts so I am hoping that is also a contributor and my fingers didn't actually just get that much weaker!

OH HEY I thought of a goal 3. It only took 2 weeks! I decided goal 3 is do some fun dance stuff (Fitness Marshall or other videos) at least 3x per week. (I debated doing it daily but I want this to be separate from my dance conditioning!) Since the idea of a choreo goal was stressing me out this gets me doing actual fun dance things several times a week and I tend to like...only do formal dance type things so these more zumba/casual fun times thing is a nice change of pace and comparatively relaxing. Yay. Also, I had Wednesday off this week and then today was insanely busy so it was like having a second, much worse Monday to the week. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH but I survived. Also I've been kind of failing at my veggie goal because I forgot to restock my olive and pickle stores and I've still had a hard time getting myself to cook anything (and I also forgot to get more fresh veggies for cooking because I'd been too lazy to do it for a while and now I want to but no... I need to do a half n half run soon so I will remedy it then!)

This sounds like me and most of my ambitious cooking ideas these days. Weekend weekend weekend! You can do the thing! (I say as I still have the mushrooms I never cooked that I wanted to make into that mushroom salad you suggested...they probably need to be tossed really by this point as they are now of questionable edibility.) Also AAAAH had not heard about possible food shortages, though I assume it's more a supply chain shortage than actual food shortage given how much food waste we usually have in this country? I do notice that it's been better since early pandemic but it's still really random if I can get something I want on any given week. Like, they will have plenty things and I can sub around generally but sometimes the specific item I want is not there at random. Yay supply chain probs.... But hey they always actually have toilet paper and kleenex these days so SMALL VICTORIES!

😂 I can do like the lady in the back on the left at a solid 90 degrees ish, but if I'm tired the position drops rapidly with how high I can do that usually but HEY progress. I can't hold my leg stupid high like the one in the front. I can do like...a grand battement that high ish maybe, but no way in hell I can HOLD it in that position. Someday maybe? Probably no. I actually prefer the look of the leg at 90 degrees because it looks less pretty to me with it so high she has to move her arm out of the way (but conditioning doesn't need to be pretty either I suppose so LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE SUPER FLEXY LADY!)

I continue to meet my extremely sparse challenge goals WOOHOO. Also, I am definitely seeing results from my daily ballet/dance conditioning. In spite of how UGH SORE OWW I was last night, my dance endurance? (I guess you could call it that) is getting better, for example I was able to keep my ronde de jambes in the air higher than I normally can (especially considering I was already fatigued) and my form in general felt great the whole class and not like the first 20 minutes feeling awkward and creaky and off like previously. I tried to find a gif of a ronde de jambe en l'air so you know what I'm talking about (and yeah my leg gets nowhere near this high as the girl in front, but you get the idea): Also I'm working on putting together a really brief "dance show" to film at the nonprofit space I work with, with 3 dancers only for social distancing purposes. Why I decided this was a good idea to start working on THIS WEEK I don't know. I'll be choreographing one piece, my friend who choreographs all the time will be doing 2 pieces. She's doing a fun tap/broadway jazz piece for one, and a super serious depressing lyrical piece about life for the second so I am trying to come up with a good piece to complement that that will be a contemporary-ish piece. I am very much someone who choreographs based on what the music tells me to do so I need to find a song. I usually go for kind of weird and dramatic which I think could work to complement. I definitely don't want to do anything depressing since we don't need two sad pieces.

Hahahahahah. That would be so fun. This was a bit more organized than a drunken Shakespearian word sparring. We got on zoom and performed As You Like It. I ended up getting in on this since a friend does this regularly with this group and they needed more people since As You Like It has a pretty large cast. I was Corin the shepherd. I did not have much in the way of elizabethan costumes so I folded a beanie in a weird way to try and look like a flat cap and I used a pretty english countryside painting as my virtual background.

Massive hugs ❤️ I'm so sorry. That's such hard news to get.

Challenge updatey-ness: I have been keeping up with stuff but not posting about it! My "veggies" continue to mostly be pickles and olives because they are easy but hey better than nothing. Also, I thoroughly kicked my butt doing dance conditioning last night which helped a bit with anxiety so win! Annnnd tonight I am doing a Drunk Shakespeare production on zoom that I kind of forgot about. I'm not really in the mood for doing anything but I have faith beer will get me through it lol.

I used to work out at lunch a lot, so makeup already on from the morning, and also working out immediately after I get home from work I'm already wearing makeup still then and I don't take it off beforehand. I don't put on makeup to prep for working out or anything, just working out at times I'm already wearing makeup. Since I am working from home I only put on makeup if I have zoom meetings, so occasionally still will end up doing a workout with makeup on in those cases (like, maybe once a week or once every few weeks.) It could also be my sunscreen is a culprit of breakouts also but I'm not sure. I could start wearing it daily again to see if there is a change I suppose! (I rarely go outside and my desk is not near the window so I don't bother with SPF these days unless I am going outdoors for a hike or something.) I also stopped using my old moisturizer because I got really lazy during summer and it was humid enough my skin wasn't pissed about it, so that could also be a possibility. HMMMMM. I could also do a test run of wearing that again regularly to test, but since I think I'm not going to go back to using that one that's not super necessary maybe.

Also if anyone has any recommendations for super comfy sweatpants let me knoooow. Boy pants are fine too if you have ones you love since hey sweatpants and some of the comfiest pajama pants I've ever had I stole from boyfriends. I'm really trying to be minimalist in clothing shopping right now but it's getting colder and I need more pairs of pants so I can laundry. I'd really like to find some comfy lazy pants that ideally are from eco-friendly/sustainably sourced and ethical companies. One weird gift from these quarantimes is I am mostly just wearing SUPER basic clothes and y'know what I am FINE with that. Don't get me wrong I LOVE fashion, but buying clothing when 90% of the time things don't fit right anyway is.....just why. I am not planning to get rid of everything but I am planning to tailor the things I do have so they fit and try to focus more on only buying a small number of things that fit great and go with a lot of things as the stuff I already have wears out. Jeans are definitely still going to be a regular re-buy once I am back in the actual office since POWER THIGHS destroy pants but hey, it's still an improvement and a serious cut in spending for me. Also, working on going more minimalist with my makeup since I actually like how my face looks with less makeup now since I think after 7 months of barely wearing makeup my skin is way better. I'm still not sure if this is just because I've stopped working out with makeup on maybe? Not sure but HAPPY either way and also YAY LAZY less work in the morning.

Wait what. This is a thing? I mean, I keep all of my to do lists in Notes plus weird notes of me musing on all aspects of life, choreography ideas, songs to learn, whatever the hell else I think of etc but I DID NOT KNOW there was a check off-able list thing? I clearly need to figure out how to do that.....I just delete things off a list as I get them done like a plebian noob apparently. Haha

Election anxiety has me like Soooo if I am lax in posting this week I am busy sitting over here with my sense of impending doom. But hey I did my goal things this weekend so SMALL WINSSSSS

So now that I regularly get enough sleep I can definitively say I am SO GRUMPY when I am underslept. SO GRUMPY. But anyway, thus my not posting yesterday. (Also like, ..... I have pretty much been not getting enough sleep for the last 10 years or so prior to covid and me getting a break from my commute... so that's a thing and I know will be a thing again when I have to go back to actually working in the office again. Hrm.) Anyway, I continue to be lazy and just have a handful of olives or a pickle as my "vegetable" which uh, it's not a fresh veggies but HEY it is plant material! Also uh, I still need to think up goal 3. I was thinking about giving myself a choreograph SOMETHING and video and post it once a week rule...but I also know that giving myself creativity deadlines particularly with dance was always a massive anxiety trigger for me in the past so I hesitate. But like, TBF are those times I was trying to choreograph for shows when I was had severe unmanaged general anxiety all the time and that has not been me in many many years so totally different situation now. Maybe it will be good for me! Hmm. (Also I may have like, hit my vape a few times to try and help me fall asleep last night and instead it sent me into a weird I HAVE SO MANY CHOREOGRAPHY IDEAS creativity spike and I took notes and have like an 8 count thought up already for this week sooo winning? Except at sleeping. Lol.) Anywhooo UPDATE YAHOO Week 1, Day 4, Wednesday Veggies x2? Yes! Ballet? Yep! Week 1, Day 5, Thursday Veggies x2? Yes! Ballet? Yep! Thursday I did not get in as much dance as I wanted but heyyy life happens. Dance night ran late and my entire body was still really really fatigued (combo of sleep plus some mild overtraining I think) so I skipped most of my solo dance drills and then we didn't dance as long as normal since friend was running late and I still left at the same time so yeah. I also skipped lifting since my body was so fatigued. I feel a lot better today as far as I actually got sleep and I didn't push it when I was super sleep deprived yesterday sooo win! Now to go contemplate if I want to sit around in my house by myself in a Halloween costume tomorrow. I went to some Stage It concerts last weekend and hung out in my dinosaur costume while chatting with people on the internet so I kind of feel like I got my CELEBRAAATE in last weekend. Hmm.