Sulinar

Wow, I come back here after far too long away, thinking of doing the next challenge, and head straight to where I always feel I belong, with the Rangers... and Spezzy's here too?! This is obviously a Good Sign.

Ooh, it's been a month already! Wow. Well the getting to bed by midnight didn't always work but I was much better at it. And I think the crashing is going off a bit, so I must finally be recovering from renovation. Anyway, this month I'm doing a primal challenge (well 3 weeks, but let's see how it goes at the end). So that's lots of sleep, eating slightly more cleanly (although I'm actually pretty good at this, now I look at the list of stuff you can/shouldn't eat), and looking after myself more. Which includes all screens off by an hour before bedtime. Tonight I'm going to occupy that time with a bath. *splashing noises*

Another month - the theme for this one will be being in bed by midnight. That doesn't mean I'll get more sleep, but at least I'll be giving myself the chance to get more if I'm actually in bed! Also, I've been feeling increasingly exhausted - last week's "Saturday crash" hit me Thursday evening and stopped me going out with friends on Friday afternoon. So maybe I need more sleep.

Oh, and had another rejection on the story front. So now it's gone to Asimovs, and after this I'll have to cut it fairly drastically for a couple of markets that only take up to 6k words (it's 7.8). But at least it's out there. And today I typed up a few more of the short shorts that I wrote in March. I'd *completely* forgotten some of them, and they're not bad. Need major work to expand them into something more meaningful in length, but I'm tolerably happy with them. Also I've signed up for another writing thingy - this time you work on one piece throughout the month, so it sounds like a good opportunity to try to finish the novel that's been sitting about for years, getting in the way of other things.

Still pootling away here, 30 minutes exercise bike a day plus at least 10 minutes of yoga and often more - with the exception of two days where it was yoga only as I was exhausted. In fact I'm coming to realise that the exhaustion is much deeper than I'd previously thought, not surprising really given what the last few months have been like. Anyway, keeping up with the low carb thing reasonably well - and have noticed significantly less heartburn and other health-related issues, which is interesting. Had sugar a couple of times, in chewing gum and a couple of politeness biscuits today when my cake-loving friends brought fika, and found it to be FAR too sweet. Yuck. Also have achieved (nearly) one of my summertime goals already, in that I've bought some kombucha cultures and have produced one batch - I left it a bit too long and it's more like cider vinegar, but still drinkable and very pleasant. So that's pleasing. Last time I tried to grow it, years ago, I killed it immediately. I hope I can get to grips with it as it's so delicious. Also have been eating sauerkraut with breakfast (yes, really) - egg, bacon and sauerkraut. Nice combination.

Just realised that I've not updated here this week - that's because even since I got back to Sweden I've been flat out with work. Although I *have*, as expected, had more time for me too. So I've done half an hour on the exercise bike a day plus at least one and sometimes two yoga sessions. Also I've been eating low carb(ish), and have now got much more of a grasp of what that actually means (!) I don't know whether I've really changed my body composition in all of a week, but I *feel* a lot better. So I guess this is my April challenge and I'll carry it on until I've done a month of it (started on the 7th, so that'll take me up to my birthday).

I think you're allowed to eat any crap you want on such days!

Yay you! Loads of good stuff happening this week (I am intrigued by chicken and crunchy things too... some kind of crispy grub type larva thing perhaps?) Yoga with ropes! (out of interest, what was this?) Good tactics with your Dad! Kneeling push-ups! (I levelled up to these about a month ago... I am SO proud that I can actually do a proper nose to the ground movement for the first time in my life.) Getting the Cherokee Shuffle down! 10 minutes of yoga turning into 30! Just general awesomeness! Are you finding that keeping track on a daily basis here is giving you more insight into exactly how much you're achieving? Or are you doing the record keeping as another thing you have to do and not appreciating all of these many victories? Just wondering. I tend to do the latter, but you may not be so daft.

Still here, still plugging away at yoga and renovation and work and... well, that's about it. I'm travelling back to Sweden next week and I've got loads to finish here before I go, so fitness/diet other than trying *not* to stuff all the cheese into myself is not really happening. But I am doing a lot of exercise in terms of painting/plastering the ceiling of what seems to be the biggest room in the world (there's a new house being built nearby and I can see it from said room. It has literally taken them less time to put up all of the walls and roof than it has for me to paint this one ceiling). Anyway, once I'm back in Sweden there'll be way more time for exercise and so on, so I'm trying not to get too stressed or too down on myself about not doing anything coordinated this month. Oh, and my story has been rejected by two magazines so far and now it's out with another one (thank God for the electronic submission... at least you don't have to wait weeks to be rejected!)

Hey Seabright! Sounds like you're still working hard at this bravery thing! All the paperwork and contacts relating to your Dad's condition sound pretty tough, and I'm very impressed by how you're just getting on with them. I mean, for all I know you may be panicking or putting stuff off IRL, but out here in cyberspace it looks like you're incredibly organised and focused. With bravery, the bit I find the most difficult is that when you've been brave over one thing and think "Yeah, that's done", you look up and there's another one you have to do. I wonder whether one day you just find that they come easily? Or is it that you do things that other people would think were brave without even thinking about it and these things, that you find so difficult, would be easy for other people? (And by "you" here, I mean "one", of course, but I just can't bring myself to write it.) Anyway, I'm amused that you go looking for geocaches but don't find them and just enjoy the walk instead. I reckon that 2 out of 3 caches I go looking for just turn into an excuse to be out somewhere nice in the world. As far as your mouldy ceiling goes, have a look for remedies using white vinegar. I've found it to be invaluable for a number of things like that (retrieving both an ancient leather jacket that had gone mouldy and our outbuilding, which the previous owners had used as a smoking cabin for 35 years with predictably smelly results - oh, and it also makes an excellent weedkiller too, if mixed with a little washing up liquid).

Thanks Seabright! Yeah, I'm chuffed about the submission too. I intend to produce another short story in a shorter time than 24 years, too! As for fitness stuff, I'm still plugging away in little bits, and actually when I write down everything I've done over the last 48 hours it's pretty good, really. Yesterday I succeeded in my boss battle for NF Academy level 2 workout (I'm starting the Academy right from the start again), which included me managing NINE knee push ups! Nine! Right down to the floor and back up! Yes, I know it's from my knees, but given that I've never had much in the way of arm muscles, I'm really happy with this. I also did what felt at the time like a pretty tough core workout (with mad Daniel Scott on doyouyoga) which has left me astonishingly unsore today. Does that mean I do have a core in there somewhere? Or is it going to hit me tomorrow? And today I've done 4 hours of plastering over cracks at the house, plus more yoga. And I've typed up some of the fiction I wrote (longhand) during my writing month, and I'm about to do another one or two pieces before going to bed. So yes, pleased with that. It's only when I've written it down that I see what I've actually done (duh).

Hmm... not going too well at the moment. Renovation has got in the way, meaning that as well as not being able to walk or run (plantar fasciitis) I now can't do any kind of weight bearing exercise on my right arm (tennis elbow from hacking at harder-than-titanium brick for an hour and a half until it finally submitted). But anyway, I got up today and went out and did half an hour plus on my bicycle, which was both nice and knackering, the latter mainly because as usual I have a bicycle on which the gears are impossible to change. I've got it in a lowish gear, but it turns out that it's not quite low enough to comfortably climb the hill back to the house. Did it though. And I am still doing my yoga. But this is not the consistent, if small, effort that I've put into my other monthly challenges this year. And I don't like the feeling. On a positive note, although I've also stopped writing this last few days, which is unforgivable, I have just submitted a story to Interzone. My very first submission to any market, anywhere. And it's the story that I started writing for that very magazine in 1993. Just as well they weren't relying on me for material, really.

Measurements taken too - they've actually not changed much from last time I took them (about 6 months ago). Gone up a couple of cm on my arms, but that's muscle from renovating. But I definitely *feel* saggier. Anyway at some point I need to organise my photos so I can compare the last few sets to see the difference, which I'm sure is there. And not in a good way!

Pumpkin-seed! Ha! I'm a paleo snack! You're right, though, I think it does help if you actually write down what you do. Sometimes you don't achieve what you set out to, but you tried. Sometimes you have something to do later and you think "Oh, I can't", but then you look back and think "Well, actually, I have done stuff that was like this before, and it was OK", and that helps. What's not good is when you don't keep track of stuff that you suspect - or know - that you did nothing worthy of yourself; that's much worse than trying and failing. What yoga are you doing? I started with the NF Yoga course but recently I've been doing doyouyoga (starting with the free ones of which there are quite a lot). Many of those are 10 minutes or thereabouts.

Took my photos today. Ugh. I'm such an odd shape - very apple (skinny legs, fat middle). And that's not good, health wise. Although actually my legs aren't really that skinny, it's just my middle is very obvious, when I'm undressed. Anyway, onwards and upwards.