Not very Ranger-y

[aramis]

So, yeah. Here I am, starting a week late due to my vacation leave. I thought I will work out my theme and goals for this round while out there, but there was so much activities...

 

And right now my "after-vacation blues" kicks in - I feel lost, overwhelmed and scared about returning to day-to-day living, managing work and house, dealing with health issues etc. I feel almost paralyzed by the amount of things I need to take care of, and every minute I find more of them. On the brighter side - at least I kept my workout routines and nutrition mostly in check during my leave. 

 

The only idea right now is I will use this challenge round as a way to put myself in my day-to-day shoes. This will be boring. Sorry in advance.

 

Goals:

 

Create and maintain TO-DO list. This thing will evolve as things will be added, while other will be crossed off when completed. I think I will keep this list here as a backup of my fuckzillion of Post-It notes and random scraps of paper. Setting priorities and work breakdown will be part of this goal. 

 

Complete one thing from the list every day. This may be one full thing or some step in bigger task. If I can do more - great, but one thing is minimum. I will try not to half-ass this goal with things I know I will do anyway (brush my teeth or go to work).

 

Get back to reading. There was a time when I could devour 500+ pages a day. Nowadays I rarely read for fun and I don't like it. I want to establish at least one reading session a week for now. 

 

In addition to above, I will continue maintaining my habits established earlier (working out, meal prepping, sleep schedule etc.) and accountability (logging my nutrition and workouts in my Battle Log) and work on my weight gain.

 

Most of my current goals revolve around managing life, but I still work hard on my "physical side". I keep in mind my long-term goal of participating in OCR next year. 

[Aquarii]

I love your challenge. To-Do lists are my favorite. There is something nice about writing down the task so I don't have to try and keep track of everything, and it is soooo gratifying to scratch out the task when it is done.

 

4 minutes ago, aramis said:

Get back to reading. There was a time when I could devour 500+ pages a day. Nowadays I rarely read for fun and I don't like it. I want to establish at least one reading session a week for now. 

 

What? Howwwww? You must read really fast, because 500 pages would take me all day, haha. But I 100% support reading goals. 

[aramis]

18 minutes ago, Aquarii said:

500 pages would take me all day

Same. My Personal Best was somewhere around 550 pages in a day, but I was sick then and stayed in bed all day. 

[Aquarii]

4 minutes ago, aramis said:

Same. My Personal Best was somewhere around 550 pages in a day, but I was sick then and stayed in bed all day. 

 

If I ever came close to that, it was when I was 12 years old. That is a pretty impressive page count. What kind of stuff do you like to read?

[aramis]

Fiction, mostly. Be it fantasy, SF, post-apo, political fiction, thriller, horror, action/adventure, you name it. 

As of non-fiction, I like books based on journals of explorers, sailors or soldiers. Sometimes biographies (or autobiographies - currently I'm at Bruce Dickinson's one). And bushcraft/survival  stuff. 

[Inazea]

Reading! Absolutely here for this! 

Hope you can fight off the after-vacation blues.

[aramis]

Aug. 12th

Today I was working on my TO DO list. It is still incomplete, it's in the process of translating, (actually, I'll keep it in Polish - easier this way for me to randomly add stuff, and if you nerds want to check what I plan to do, just use dictionary ) but it exists - so it's already a win for today.

 

For today's completed thing - I found that nearby hospital has equipment to do the test I need (brain CT angiography). Tomorrow I'll try to call them to make an appointment. I've also collected my wife's car from mechanic and on my way home stopped at control station to do car's annual tech inspection.

[aramis]

Aug. 13th

TO DO list grows.

For completed tasks - I've set the appointment for my CT Angiography for Sep. 4th. And filled chipped place in my younger's favorite cup with resin. 

 

Also, I managed to find some time to sit with the book in the evening. Nothing big, but I dug through last ~60 pages of Bruce Dickinson's autobiography. Next on list: Dave Canterbury's "Bushcraft 101".

 

Workouts and  sleep are okay, meal prepping is somewhat off. But I plan what will I cook on Sunday for next week's work lunches, so I'm getting back on track with this too.

 

[aramis]

Aug. 14th

 

List is managed.

Didn't scratch off anything from the list because I was actually working at work (strange idea, I know) and later spent my afternoon with kids. Sorry not sorry, I can fail my goal this way.

 

Started reading Dave Canterbury's "Bushcraft 101" before sleep.

 

Workout done, sleep schedule is okay-ish, food is tracked (mostly).

[foxinthenorth]

Welcome baaaack!

 

You can always fail a goal to spend time with your kids. 

[Teros]

On 8/11/2019 at 10:44 AM, aramis said:

There was a time when I could devour 500+ pages a day.

 

Hot damn, I think like 50 is a record for me.  I can't stay paying attention for that long even when it's something that I like.

[aramis]

Aug. 15th

 

List still grows - I add new things faster than complete earlier ones. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

For completed tasks - I have sort of decluttered my wardrobe. No real revolution, but I wanted to check if I need all my stuff. Some were thrown away, some others will be passed to charity. I still need to decide the fate of some stuff, but it will be done soon, before Monday for sure. 

I also organized my Airsoft stuff, so it can fit one cabinet I have reserved for it. 

 

Running done, sleep in check, food tracked.

[Elastigirl]

Great work  at completing your tasks, and also knowing when to prioritize family time over to -do lists!

[aramis]

Aug. 16th

 

Didn't add anything to the list (SURPRISE!!!)

 

Did scratch off two things tho. First - I finished fixing my younger's favorite mug - earlier I filled chipped part with resin, and now I worked the shape and put on enamel. And second - I fixed my wife's latest fridge magnet - anthropomorphic cow (imagine Cow level from Diablo) with feet, hands, head and horns dangling on little springs. I reworked magnet fix and reshaped one of the springs our kid stretched. 

 

No time for reading in the evening, as I need to go to work at Saturday (I need to get up at 5am).

 

Workout done (with progress), food tracked, sleep on point. 

[NicTheRugger]

Following along for excellent goals! What are you reading right now?

[aramis]

Hey @NicTheRugger!

Right now I'm at Dave Canterbury's "Bushcraft 101". Next in line is "Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up" by Tom Phillips. 

How's your Polish lessons?

 

Aug. 17th

 

Completed and scratched off decluttering two cabinets from the list. But on the other hand, added to the TO DO list overhauling my LARP stuff for incoming S.T.A.L.K.E.R. event. 

 

Running (barely) done, food tracked, veggies eaten . Sleep on the other hand was awful - I was waking up every two or three hours due to cramps in feet, calves and tights. This was the effect of doing like 3km up and down the ladder at work - I was installing ventilation ducts. 

[aramis]

Aug. 18th

 

Correcting position of headlamps on my wife's car scratched off from the list. In this section, I still need to check why there is condensation inside right one after car wash. Left one is okay.

 

Also (not included on the list) spent time batch cooking work lunch food and making dinner. 

 

No workout - rest day. Food tracked, sleep is okay. No cramps - looks like my legs finally got enough rest. 

[aramis]

Aug 19th.

 

Delivered my prescription for CT, got papers to fill before examination. Did some more stuff beyond the list - grocery shopping, collecting parcel from post office etc. 

 

Food tracked, sleep in check. 

Workout on the other hand suffered from withdrawal symptoms (I decided to put away caffeine to reset my tolerance). I did only one set and when trying to do another my head exploded. 

[aramis]

Aug. 20th

 

I stared on the list for some time, but didn't manage to actually finish off anything. 

 

Food tracked, sleep in check, running done.

[aramis]

Aug. 21st

 

Went to METALLICA concert! No TO DO list is important compared to this 

 

But I used time we drove to Warsaw (about 4,5h one way) to discuss some plans about kids' room with wife - including the need of securing their double bed (it falls apart from too much abuse boys give to it). So I scratch that topic off the list. 

 

Food tracked, the only junk food was hot-dog on a gas station on a way back (but it was in whole grain bun and with lean sausage). Workout done. Slept only 4 hours, as we came back home at 4am. 

[aramis]

Aug. 22nd

 

List managed

 

Completed and scratched off some stuff:

- hanging a painting we bought when on vacation, 

- buying supplies for reinforcing my kids' double bed

- actually reinforcing the bed

- talking over with wife the plan and timing of giving boys separate rooms - decided to wait couple years - for now they need to learn to socialize better

 

No time for reading  

 

I plan to squeeze hour or two in the evening before sleep today and tomorrow.

 

Food tracked, running done, sleep in check. 

[aramis]

Aug. 23rd

 

List managed (added some things). 

 

After work went to get my kidneys' ultrasound scan. Turns out all is good. Entry on the list checked off.

 

And as planned - I managed to find some time (hour or so) to get some reading before sleep. YAY

 

Food tracked, workout done, sleep in check.

[Salinger]

You are doing great!!!! Impressive. Hope Metallica were good. Seen them a few times at festivals, always great! 

 

Hope you are managing to read. Im slacking with my reading :/ xx

[aramis]

Thank you  

Yes, Metallica keeps their high level despite passing years. They rock as hell, but look like gramps...

Reading is a pain - or rather finding time for it. During the day there always something needs to be done, and in the evening fatigue calls for a sleep. But I try  

 

Aug. 24th

 

After this two weeks I find keeping my TO DO list in google docs suboptimal. I waste too much time and effort to manage it, check things and add new entries. I think I'm after all an analog creature and I need physical list. Writing stuff on paper would be ok, but when I scratch off some things, other may get lost between and the whole sheet will be discarded as completed. 

I think on using either whiteboard to add and remove things easily (with colored markers for different significance of tasks), or just plain pin board with every task on separate card. 

 

Didn't complete any task from the list, but I was busy with Domestic Rangering not included there. Some laundry, some cooking, some car maintenance and other stuff. 

 

No reading. 

 

Food tracked, running done, sleep in check.

 

A little bragging - this run was the last run of my beginner program

 

[Salinger]

Brag away, thats excellent. What programme you using?

 

I understand about the reading, its HARD to find time sometimes!!!! xx