Whisper

Side quest ideas:

Try a beginner's painting class

Start learning Variant Sudoku. It's like normal Sudoku, but fun!

(Cracking the Cryptic on YouTube is a good source. Look for videos under 30 minutes, watch through the rules explanation, pause and give the linked puzzle a try, go back to the video when you get stuck)

Find a highly rated book on a subject you know nothing about and read it. 

(Gun's Germs and Steel is good.)

Friday, was running late in the morning; several things took longer than expected. Had some panic about time and if I should skip my walk. Walk is a loop, loops are a set distance! Remembered that a: the exact time I get to work doesn't really matter, and b: I can always turn around and walk back instead of finishing the loop. Did that, walk was good. Back was kind of fun, most people are going the same way, so walking back lets me smile and say "good morning" to more people than walking forward.

Overnight, sleep got interrupted for several hours. Finally took an extra dose of my sleep med at 3:30 and got some more zzzz's, but it isn't an ideal solution. Got up around 8. Thought about skipping my walk. Decided instead to just not worry at all about pace, I have nowhere to specifically be today, I can take my time. Wore sandals instead of shoes. Got to the park and was just overwhelmed by the number of people jogging past. Like, 4 separate swarms in quick succession, so decided to walk on the grass instead so I wouldn't have to worry about them. Decided that if I'm walking on the grass, I might as well walk barefoot.  Didn't get passed by any more large groups, but stayed barefoot on the grass for about 75% of the walk. It was nice and interestingly tactile. 

I am still feeling the late dose and poor sleep.  My face is slightly numb and smiling is just too much effort, can't hold one for more than a few seconds. 

Sooooooooooo Fire Maple Song

"Now I can't Smile"

My main focus for this challenge is to actually do my last challenge, but I already used the good title for it, and smiling more and better is something I want to actively work on.

One of the defense mechanism I learned at an early age was to maintain a flat affect. I got really good at dissipating emotions and fighting my face into stillness. I've gotten a lot better about it over the years, but smiling is still something I often have to think about.  

I've been reading some about increasing happiness, and one bit of advice was that the act of smiling can make you feel happy, and also create a feedback loop.

I'm fairly good at remembering to smile when talking to people.  I'm trying to get better at smiling while doing other things, particularly pleasant things. Like walking in the morning, or petting my cats.

Hopefully, this will help me smile when doing things that require more consideration, like playing the violin. 

I've been watching myself play the violin recently, and I really hate what I'm doing with my face while playing. So many interesting grimaces, even when I'm not messing up! So...

Congratulations Rookie! 

Hmm, it doesn't look like sharing the clip worked right. Linking the whole video instead, should be cued to the right spot. 

Busy weekend! Tired but happy with things

Played violin for both services this morning. Even had a solo intro for one song. Need to learn to not make faces while playing.

Liked how I looked again today. I like liking how I look, even if I know some people find it off putting. They'll get used to it.

There was one woman that has kind of been a mother to me in the past that made a comment about "wondering who the red haired woman was for a moment".  I don't know how I feel. I don't think she meant it in a hostile way at all; I think she's a bit mystified about my shift in presentation. And we were also talking about when we were getting together for lunch next month. 

Happy birthday Winnie!

Love the reel

18 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

The Floor is Lava is the best game tho. 

Hope the after vacation lurgy passes quickly!

Into Your hands oh Lord.

Just had the best "salon" experience of my life.

One of my coworkers does hair out of her home. So much better than going into a place, or my normal method of grabbing some scissors and hacking off half the ponytail. Had her do the color this time too.

Really Really happy with all of it.

Sooo

I found out my work owes me money

According to my offer letter, I was supposed to get a 5% bonus, prorated my first year. I did not get a bonus. Talking with HR, it looks like they made a mistake with my New Hire paperwork. Hourly employees don't generally get bonuses. They're working on getting things fixed.

I walked before work Tuesday

I walked before work Wednesday

I walked before work Thursday (today)

I am awesome and amazing! Looking forward to walking before work tomorrow. Looking forward to walking after my therapy call on Saturday morning.  Not sure if I'll manage a walk on Sunday; need to be at church by 7am. 

My recent thinking around health has been rejecting the idea of losing weight. It takes too long to see anything, gets too nebulous, and drives restrictions that I rebel against. Instead, I'm trying to focus on what will help me feel better NOW.  I'm not walking to lose weight; I'm walking to enjoy the cool of the morning, the beautiful park, the feeling of accomplishment and how it makes me feel. I'm not sure if related or not, but both my carpal tunnel and stiff knee have been doing a bit better.  Maybe the extra blood flow from a beating heart is helping? 

Looking at food too, not "does this support my weight goal" but "how does this make my body feel?" Too much sugar doesn't feel good. Things like salad helps me feel better. So make choices for now, or how I'll feel in 10 minutes, or in the morning. There's "food" that I think I really like, but I'm also not sure. Cherry juju hearts. Do I like them, or are they a compulsion? I don't feel good after scarfing them down and I don't seem able to enjoy just a few of them.  Same with a lot of gummy candies, and most chips. I WANT THEM ALL until they're gone. Forget weight; I don't think I'm really enjoying them, just end up feeling hijacked. 

Do we get to see the ink?

4 minutes ago, TimovieMan said:

And it doesn't help that their main quests are hardly ever as good as their side quests, making a beeline to the finish not as interesting as actually putting the time in to explore...

Bethesda games have a main quest?! Shocking!

I like open world / exploration games. Often with them, I'll follow the main quest to unlock what I want unlocked, and then never go back to it.  Sure, I want the fancy power words, but do I want them badly enough to worry about random dragon attacks killing off my NPCs? 

Happy birthday Liam!

Really happy with my outfit yesterday. That shirt turned out the best of all the tie-dye that I did, and the pants were fun, and comfortable and delightfully swishy.  I did get some looks that seemed less than impressed, and one lady did make a comment about me wearing a dress. Mind you, she made that comment while taking the picture for me and during our protracted discussion of future plans for the bell choir.  Also had a few people make positive comments. 

Happy with what I got done yesterday. Food was cooked, laundry was washed, did some more chipping away at the living room. 

Figured out what I'm going to do next about cat litter. The trays that are used with my litter box are costing me nearly $70 every two weeks. Found out yesterday that there is a reusable tray for the box! So, I can keep my fancy self-scooping box, but also drastically cut back on the upkeep cost. There are also bags with liners that can go in it, so changing it isn't going to be any harder. Excited, but wish I had looked into it more sooner.  Going to look into different crystal litter options. 

I had the early start (5am) this Monday, so no walk before work. I'll hopefully be able to leave early too, but not counting on it.

Goals for this afternoon:

Portion food

Tidy up around tv

Trash and recycling out.

Fold laundry?

3 minutes ago, Rookie said:

I had a small chat with my old boss Friday and he's going to recommend me at his new job. Fingers crossed. It would be fully remote because they are based in a different province. And it sounds like I'd get to work under my boss. I'd be basically doing the exact same thing I did at my last job but starting from scratch. 

Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

Not sure what's on the other side of the fence, but the puppers sure are interested

On 7/13/2024 at 7:36 PM, sarakingdom said:

Only four are next, though. And four is like a large value of three. I need to have things to select my next three out of.

Was trying to make a joke about troll counting and you having 4 things in the 3 things section.

I really do like the idea of having a pool of things ready to choose from for the "next 3"; can add to the lower section when something comes to you so you don't forget, but also don't swamp your "next" section.

Busy day today. Slightly undecided on how much I'll do.

Brining box of books to donate and an extra office chair out to car.

Dropping books at donation drop box on way to church

Run video first service

Visit some homebound friends

Maybe come back for "worship on the lawn"

Almost certainly not stay for potluck

Drop chair off with Maggie

Laundry

Cooking

decided not to go for a walk this morning. Felt like I over did it some yesterday and was having trouble moving the rest of the day.

6 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

Next 3 Things

Numbers aren't my strong suit, but that appears to be... <counts on fingers> one, two, many, lots. Lots of things.

1 hour ago, Silmarilliane said:

nd booked to get a tattoo 😮 I was going to get one in Amsterdam earlier this year but was supposed to swim that weekend, and really want to get it while I'm still in my 40th year (12 days left!)

I am now feeling inspired to actually get a tattoo during my 40th year.  Visiting my brother for Thanksgiving (right after my 40th birthday), asking him if he knows a good tattoo artist we could book while I'm there.