Madam_Patella

Hey guys, sorry to break in on the ongoing conversation. I just thought you'd like this (spoiler tab 'cause the image is huge and I have no idea how to resize it): You know what's even better? It's a t-shirt!!! I finally have an answer to that annoying question of "So, what do you want for Xmas/b-day/ridiculous gift-giving occasion?"

And this year's Academy Award for best spontaneous defense goes to Cat In The Rack!

You don't need to say sorry, you made a good point.

I think that in this case it's not so much attaching a gender to them as describing how they fit (Traditional view of men's meaning a rectangular torso with more room in the shoulders and women's having more room in the hips). I'm not saying that it's right to attach specific physical characteristics to a gender. I am saying that for practical reasons you couldn't do away entirely with using words to describe the distinction between styles of clothing. It would be clearer to actually say 'fits tighter/looser in ___ area' though. TL;DR I agree with you. I'm just feeling pedantic right now. or just sleepy, they tend to coincide.

Today a lady that I'd never met before called me a gentleman when I opened a door for her. I didn't expect that one little word could make me so happy.

Last week was a complete fail on all main goals. I didn't fully commit to this challenge and gave other things a higher priority. This week will be more in the way of recovery. I have completed one short meditation session, one workout, have worked on the sculpt, no stretching sessions, no reading, and basically said screw that to all diet goals so far this week. Today I will stretch for at least 15 minutes and then I will meditate for 5 minutes with focus on breathing.

Good luck, Nax! Hope everything goes well!

Main objectives: Meditate 5/7 days a week- Done. I enjoyed this guided meditation. Stretch at least two days a week- Only one done. Will do a few stretches before sleeping. Remove three kinds of food containing kryptonite (sugar)- FAILED, in the form of a friend's birthday cake and lots of ice cream. For the next two weeks I won't eat any more cake or ice cream and I will start recording what I eat again for accountability. Side quests: Read articles on Lion's Roar- I particularly enjoyed these four great articles. Finish reading So long, and Thanks for All the Fish- Got a few chapters done. Read some Nietzsche for the funsies Finish the plaster mold for the prosthetic ears- Cleaned up one positive and tried to sculpt the ear. It is so much harder to try to copy the first ear than it was to actually do the first one. How in the world did I make that ridge?

I'd be fine with having a treat like choc milk if I hadn't already had a lot of crap on more than one day this week. My family got a lot of ice cream, like three different kinds [sarcasm] because that's what everyone needs more of right now [/sarcasm]. That and I have the nasty habit of forgetting all goals whenever it makes it convenient to stuff myself full of sugar. Thank you!

Alrighty, quick update. Meditation: 3x so far this week. I skipped yesterday because the lazy monster came for a visit. Stretching:Once so far. Did it today. Reducing sugar exposure: Not so great. I've avoided the things listed above, but have indulged in others. Note to self: Never believe yourself when you say you will only have one glass of chocolate milk.

This happens to me all the time. That's the thing I have to remind myself with meditation: It's not supposed to be easy, it will suck sometimes (or all the time), and the more you fight to focus, the harder it gets. I have to redefine what I think of as progress and meditate for it's own sake without forming any expectations for each day's practice. For me, it helps to meditate when I first wake up so I won't have as much time to automatically latch onto a particular train of thought. And I have to tell myself that it's okay to lose focus because the point is to notice it so that I can mindfully return to my practice. Sometimes I just have to make peace with the fact that I'm not focusing as well that day and decide to just sit through it or choose another mindfulness exercise to work on that day. tl;dr Meditation is just a fancy term for learning to be patient with ourselves, even when it sucks.

-Random post that is completely unrelated to the challenge- I secretly hope that I'll get to reincarnate as a cat. Preferably one that has a good home, is allowed to explore outside, and who's owners don't have small children. I mean really, house cats have a pretty sweet life. They get to sleep whenever they want, don't have to be walked on a leash by their humans, or do anything they don't want to. My own cat is the Overlord/Empress of our home and sees it as her duty to point out when I'm being stupid by looking at me with a condescending glance that cats do so well. She's also figured out that I'll pay attention to her after the timer goes off when I'm meditating AKA 'Not giving her my entire attention like a good human', so she waits until she hears it. Oh well, I digress. Here's a sketch of her.

Update for Week 1 I started a few days late for the challenge, so I'm only covering the last four-ish days. Main objectives: Meditate 5/7 days a week. Meditated for 10 minutes each day.Stretch at least two days a week Did two okay and one short sessions, I haven't found a specific routine to stick to yet. Remove food containing kryptonite (sugar) from my diet. First two weeks:cake. Cake is gone, so this should be easy. However, I am shamelessly slurping down a Starbucks drink, so I probably shouldn't consider this week a complete success.Side quests, Mainly literature: Finish reading Frankenstein - Finished Frankenstein today.Finish the plaster mold for the prosthetic Vulcan ears.- Didn't really do much. Just a little tidying up on the first ear sculpt. Might redo an unrelated prosthetic that I messed up the mold for tonight. This week for the side quests I'm going to try to focus on reading at least three good articles on Lion's Roar or another site that explains different Buddhist teachings and working on the ears.

Haha, yeah I do that on occasion. Around my family I just call it a super bra with epic powers of squish (which reminds me of Tom from Khaos Komix) to help them understand it's purpose. I should totally put a cape on it sometime.

Oh, that's what it was. I'll have to remember to check next time. Thanks for the info! It feels great! A bit like a new compression sports bra, but with the compression spread out enough to be comfortable. I keep smiling like an idiot when I put my shirt on and see how good it looks, especially how my shirt hangs from my shoulders now instead of my chest. When I first put it on, after the initial panic of trying to get it over my head, it just felt right. Not huge fireworks, just felt a little bit more like myself. My warm fuzzy feelings aside, getting it on and off and wearing it for more than four hours will take a bit of getting used to. Probably will take breaks every few hours at home until it's broken in. (And I'll blame The Overlord my cat for the little scratches that came from my first almost-failed attempt to take it off. )