delalana

I should start putting a list together of things to do in the cities once the plague is under control: 1. Find a chicken on a bike. 2. Visit this very intriguing yarn shop. (I knit) 3. Selectively delete my memories of #1 and enjoy some delicious chicken on a plate.

The chickens are new to me... Facebook keeps advertising this backpack to me, so maybe you’ll see me riding around with one of the cats one day. Once I convince them not to murder me for sticking them in there of course.

Today had its ups and downs. I ate too much, but avoided going to McDonald’s. I bought a supermarket chocolate cake, but found a recipe I’ll use later this week to make my own chocolate dessert (if I’m going to eat something chocolatey it should at least be good quality). I’m tired, but it’s more of a physical tired than an emotional one, so all signs are that sleep should help. I’m figuring out that pretty much anything that gets me in contact with water is good for my mental health, which is nice because, unlike the pool, my shower doesn’t require reservations.

It was both. The hostess is relatively high risk, so they’re some of the most cautious people I know. So far everyone is healthy. Sunday was kind of meh, not really for any particular reason. Today was better. I got the fridge cleaned out, which hopefully included an unpleasant smell I discovered this morning, and still have most of a week’s worth of food ready to microwave. I made it down to the pool yesterday, but not today. There’s a chance I’ll swim tomorrow, but more likely my next swim will be Thursday.

Good day. Got up to 300s in the pool, got a good portion of a project I’ve been putting off done, and went to a socially distanced cookout with one more person than I’m used to seeing in person during quarantine.

Not a bad day. I was off work so I got to sleep in and got a few hours of hobby related tasks taken care of. Didn’t make it down to the pool, but rest days are good too.

After months of the pool being closed I finally get to swim again! So I’m good

* See spoiler of last post for context * All of that justification for nothing. The restaurant I wanted closed at 8. I am heating up a can of soup.

The SW finally cooperated and I got my appointment. I'm feeling much better now. Also got in my third swim of the week. My stamina is coming back nicely. A 200 (yards (4 laps)) was kicking my butt when I first jumped back in on Saturday and today 45 minutes of mostly 200s was easy. My plan at this point is to - hopefully over the next week or so - get back to the point where a 400 feels reasonable and then see where my speed is and start trying to get that back up to snuff. Overall yardage over the 45 minutes is already tracking pretty well when scaled from what I used to swim in an hour. Post-therapy musings in the spoiler.

Day 8 of therapy appointment being pushed off because the therapist is having issues with the video conferencing system. I’ve had better days.

I was worried for a little while that after a couple rounds in the pool, the desire to swim world fizzle out or at least decrease. As I sit here eating lunch half my thoughts are “I wish I could get back in the pool” and “why do I have to wait until Thursday?”...I don’t think it’s gonna fizzle out

Yep, quiet is kind of nice these days. I got back in the pool today. My stamina was a lot better than Saturday and I wasn’t quite so dog tired when I got out. That didn’t stop me from collapsing on the bed for half an hour when I got home, though. I’m not sure that the return of the exercise is prompting any other changes right now, but I’m glad to have at least that much back.

I did not suffer consequences for dinner last night. Or the leftovers I had for lunch today. Not much happened today...

Hard cider is delicious. I like this plan.

Cute! And I've got two more doppelgangers over here: It was wonderful! I had the entire pool to myself and having to get out after 45 minutes (so they could clean) wasn't necessarily a bad thing after I'd been out for pretty much six months. I did have some slight stomach issues during and after swimming that I think were (at least partially) due to factors other than what I've been dealing with for the past week. Details in the spoiler if you're interested. I broke with boredom at the food in my house today and broke at dinner time, making the risky decision to have pizza and pop. So far it's been fine, but we'll see if I pay for it later tonight. Aside from wanting to be able to sleep tonight, I'm not sure whether I want it to be bad - giving me an even stronger reason to stay away from the fast food for a bit - or good - meaning I can be a lot less careful about what I eat and live with less discomfort overall.

Alright, I’ll take the plunge (although I’m going off a recipe that uses up curry paste I already have and doesn’t require me to use Olympics level mental gymnastics to figure out where the local stores think curry powder should go). I’ll let you know how it goes in a few days...

Today was a genuinely good day. 1. I was happy for no particular reason. 2. I had almost no stomach issues all day. 3. My HOA finally trimmed the tree that’s been blocking off 1/3 of the usable space on my deck. 4. My pool published their reservation link and I’m scheduled to swim tomorrow, Monday, and Thursday.

The curry sounds good. I kind of want to try making some, but I’m worried about it turning out poorly when I’m still trying to limit my trips to the store.

They were on separate days, so it’s not a combination factor. On the other hand, Oreos appear to be fine, so I’ve got that going for me. 😂

I don’t know what I did to upset my stomach today... still not terrible, just uncomfortable. I’m looking forward to swimming on Saturday. Or maybe kayaking. Sunny and upper 80s vs the pool finally being open...

In ascending order (and with gifs!): 1. Looks like Mountain Dew and alcohol (at least the ridiculously sugary kind) also set off some indigestion issues at the moment. Not anywhere near as bad as the fast food, but still enough to be uncomfortable. Looks like I'm sticking to water and milk for the foreseeable future. 2. Belly dance drill days hurt. I had fun, but I can feel everything and don't even want to think about what that means for tomorrow. 3. My pool released their hours starting this Saturday! Up to 5 lap swimmers at a time (one per lane) and open 6am-6pm weekdays and 9-6 weekends. I'm going to try for swimming a couple of times a week after I get out of work (4:30). If it turns out this time is busy then I'll go back too 6am swims that were never crowded even before everything shut down. 4. Especially as we get towards the end of June, I am incredibly grateful to have spent the time and mental energy to figure out what my sexual orientation was last summer (I'm asexual, if you're curious), as opposed to figuring it out now or still being in the dark. There's so much less pressure to try to fit myself into the straight box that never quite felt right. And I would not have the mental bandwidth to figure it out now given everything else going on. I'm settled and happy with that part of me. Happy Pride!

It seems to be self perpetuating so far. Which is good, because I was not in a good state when I got done with work today. Yoga - starting off with 15 agonizing minutes of shifting between different types of squats - got my mind calmed down. Now I need to work on a way to stave things off quickly and for the moment so that I can get back to doing things of it doesn’t happen to be the end of the workday.

Planning lol. Not normally my strong suit, but exceptions can be made. Today I finally felt like doing something exercise related and got in half an hour of yoga. I also realized that the reason I didn’t have snacking issues until recently was that exercise gives my brain something to do other than be bored when I’m done with work and dinner’s not for a couple hours. As much as I may not want to, I probably could - and should - get myself back to something resembling a normal exercise routine.

I did get some sleep. I’ll let you know when I’m not tired anymore. Some rather unpleasant indigestion earlier in the week has made it incredibly easy to stay away from fried foods the past couple of days. I have been eating a lot more snacks at home as a result, but at the very least it’s been good for my budget. Other than that, cabin fever was definitely a thing today. I need to find somewhere to go other than the lake...Maybe get out on the bike again. I’ve only really biked in one direction from here, so there’s plenty of neighborhood to explore.

Still tired, but had a reasonably productive day. Did not go kayaking as it was a little colder than I like, but still walked down to the lake and got a few things done around the house.