starsapart prepares for takeoff

[mitch_dee]

1 hour ago, starsapart said:

"resolve my differences" with said colleague on my own first FIST

FIFY

1 hour ago, starsapart said:

Heading up to the mountains for a girls' weekend tomorrow, which will hopefully help me recharge a little

 

1 hour ago, starsapart said:

I'm feeling super blue today, at least 70% due to work things

 

(only able to communicate via meme as my head and social abilities shut off 3 hours ago)

[Mike Wazowski]

I'm a day late, but count me in if you need an angry mob to f***ing demolish someone. Or you know, maybe just pin him down and figure out what the appropriate content is to play on repeat to brainwash him into being less of a misogynist.

 

Fingers crossed that the girls' weekend is a nice recharge and that baby is on her best sleep behavior!

 

Also, I hope you're noticing all the good things you're doing with health and fitness stuff IN SPITE OF some rough circumstances with work, weather, etc.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

3 hours ago, starsapart said:

It ended up coming out to a sympathetic ear but ultimately a suggestion that it might be better if I find a way to "resolve my differences" with said colleague on my own first so... basically exactly as anticipated.

Have you considered resolving your differences by showing him my comment?

 

Of course, you'll probably have to show him mitch_dee's translation as well, but whatevs.

[starsapart]

2 hours ago, mitch_dee said:

FIFY

 

 

(only able to communicate via meme as my head and social abilities shut off 3 hours ago)

 

I feel like communication by meme is a language I can get behind. THANK YOU.

 

43 minutes ago, Mike Wazowski said:

I'm a day late, but count me in if you need an angry mob to f***ing demolish someone. Or you know, maybe just pin him down and figure out what the appropriate content is to play on repeat to brainwash him into being less of a misogynist.

 

Fingers crossed that the girls' weekend is a nice recharge and that baby is on her best sleep behavior!

 

Also, I hope you're noticing all the good things you're doing with health and fitness stuff IN SPITE OF some rough circumstances with work, weather, etc.

 

Thanks. ❤️

 

And yeah, I'm feeling pretty all right about all I'm managing to accomplish despite being in the winter doldrums for sure.

 

3 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Have you considered resolving your differences by showing him my comment?

 

Of course, you'll probably have to show him mitch_dee's translation as well, but whatevs.

 

Alas, I somehow feel that would get be branded unprofessional. But I daydream about saying something to that effect... frequently.

 

I lifted some weights today! So there's that! It helped to channel some of my rawr for sure. I'm still just... really sad, but at least I'm no longer angry! Baby steps!

[sylph]

for work-related thingies, I love www.askamanager.org she has scripts for all kinds of work issues, including when you do need to talk with a colleague directly and when (such as in this case) your boss needs a dick punch to realize that it's really their job to step in for situations like this. It's one thing if the two of you were struggling with something like whose responsibility it was to keep the agenda updated for the weekly meeting. When it's straight up sexism, that's boss territory.

[starsapart]

I think I'm tapping out on being my best today and focusing instead on feeling less like a sad sack of goo. I ordered takeout. At least it should come well in time to be within my eating window, but everything else... eh. Whatever.

[mitch_dee]

18 hours ago, starsapart said:

I think I'm tapping out on being my best today and focusing instead on feeling less like a sad sack of goo. I ordered takeout. At least it should come well in time to be within my eating window, but everything else... eh. Whatever.

This is needed some days, I feel like society has pushed us all to a point that we forget it's ok to have off days.  Take the time you need. but don't be a sad sack of goo, be a relaxed and rejuvenating sack of goo.

[KB Girl]

Lack of sleep will give you a case of the blues even without work related troubles.. so I hope you get to sleep a lot this weekend and that you're able to enjoy it all! The pics on insta looked great, so I hope that's a good sign

 

Just incase it's helpful; I remember with the transition from 2 to 1 nap that we used to rotate those days, so on the day she had 1 nap she'd go to bed earlier and wake up a little earlier so then that day she'd have 2 naps and go to bed a littler later and then that'd be a good day for 1 nap again.. I think we mustve mucked around like that for at least a month. 

[starsapart]

On 2/21/2020 at 11:05 AM, mitch_dee said:

This is needed some days, I feel like society has pushed us all to a point that we forget it's ok to have off days.  Take the time you need. but don't be a sad sack of goo, be a relaxed and rejuvenating sack of goo.

 

It definitely helped, though my blues have stretched on because the work stuff is really pressing on me. But it did help me get myself a bit more in gear for the weekend!

 

On 2/22/2020 at 1:42 PM, KB Girl said:

Lack of sleep will give you a case of the blues even without work related troubles.. so I hope you get to sleep a lot this weekend and that you're able to enjoy it all! The pics on insta looked great, so I hope that's a good sign

 

Just incase it's helpful; I remember with the transition from 2 to 1 nap that we used to rotate those days, so on the day she had 1 nap she'd go to bed earlier and wake up a little earlier so then that day she'd have 2 naps and go to bed a littler later and then that'd be a good day for 1 nap again.. I think we mustve mucked around like that for at least a month. 

 

We did have a good time, though there were some hiccups (not shown on insta, haha). I'll break it all down in a minute.

 

We've tried doing a two nap day here and there but inevitably this has gone poorly for us. She'll take her first nap early and everything is good, but when we set her down for a second nap later, she just screams for her full hour of crib time and doesn't sleep. So I think we're just giving up the ghost and forcing the first nap to start later because it will almost definitely be the only nap. I can't think of a day that two naps have worked properly in the last week.... womp womp.

 

OKAY THIS IS VERY OVERWHELMING BUT I'M GONNA TRY TO CATCH UP ON MY WEEKEND SCORING AND TELL YOU ALL ABOUT THE THINGS.

 

WEEK 1 DAY 5:

• Nutrition grab bag: +2 (IF, deficit)
• Lifting: 2/2 (squats and more bench)
• Flexibility: none
• Family time: none

Thursday was a rough day, as mentioned in earlier posts. I am going to stop whining about work things as of now because what is the point? Just know that they are ongoing and it is stressing me out and making me sad, but such is life. Anyway, regardless of work issues, I got a lifting session in with @stillskies in the early afternoon (I think?). We did bench because she hadn't done it yet for the week and then I squatted as well. When she headed off to her evening shift at work, I ordered Thai food, which fortunately came plenty early enough to make my IF cutoff. I am not sure if I made a tracking error but I SOMEHOW came in at a deficit anyway (small lunch). And the baby greatly enjoyed sharing my pad se lew (yes, I give her basically everything, including takeout, because 90% of the time she eats whole foods and I don't think some saucy noodles are going to damage her). By the time I had put her to bed, I only had enough energy top fall onto the couch and stay there, doing a whole lot of nothing, until bedtime. I couldn't get the packing done and decided I would leave later Friday instead of going at 5:30am which was my initial plan (so as to take my 8am meeting already from the condo).

 

WEEK 1 DAY 6:

• Nutrition grab bag: 0 (deficit BUT too much junk)
• Lifting: none
• Flexibility: none
• Family time: +1 (fun outing)

Friday was a bit of a weird day. In the morning, I took my early calls from home, then we packed up our stuff and the baby's stuff and all of our friends' stuff and headed up to the mountains. The weather was great, but we did run into some traffic. Fortunately, the entire trip still took just over two hours, so not terrible. Once settled into the condo, I tried to get back to work while my poor wife tried to get the baby to nap. As a result, we all listened to a lot of screaming for about 45 minutes. Eventually, she settled down when my wife lay down in bed with her (this isn't a thing we generally permit at home, but considering we were out of the house it seemed a reasonable compromise). I finished out my workday, including a call with my boss' boss which I think went pretty well. Then we went to the Dillon ice castle! It was a good time, though I discovered that my daughter is officially too big now for me to zip her inside even my most oversized coat. Ah well, still a good time. A few pics under the spoiler.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

We had a good time, then went back to the condo to make dinner, which was vegetarian enchiladas. Unfortunately, by the time I'd tried and failed to get the overtired baby to sleep (my wife managed it eventually), it was significantly past 7pm. I was seriously planning on skipping dinner and just taking the massive deficit, but in the end I ate. And then I was like screw it, and ate most of a bag of dried fruit too. Oh well. It comes out to zero in the end.

 

WEEK 1 DAY 7:

• Nutrition grab bag: +1 (IF; ended up with a surplus but I get a pass because snowshoeing)
• Lifting: none
• Flexibility: 2/2 done
• Family time: +2 (fun outing, family meal)

Saturday started off fairly great! Miraculously, baby girl blessed us by sleeping the night through in her crib and not demanding we bring her to bed with us (she's not usually good at this when traveling). After having some morning tea and having a bit of playtime, @blkhole24601 (still hoping she'll get back here one of these days) and I went to the Nordic center and rented some snowshoes! We did the advanced loop, which is just under 5k but has some pretty steep grades here and there. It was absolutely beautiful out there.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Afterward, we met up with the others for a bit of time in Breckenridge and FINALLY lunch, where I fell upon burgers and tater tots like a starving woman. Followed this up by a stop at the French bakery for a pain aux raisins, then back up to the condo to drop off the baby and @Kagetsukai (doubt she'll return to the forums, but tagging her anyway...). She kindly babysat while the rest of us went snow tubing, which was really fun! I didn't get any pics, but my wife did.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Got back to the condo, fed the baby dinner (the rest of us were still pretty full from our massive lunch), put her to bed, and then three of us headed out to the hot tub, which was very much needed after the snowshoeing earlier. I remembered I hadn't completed my flexibility goal, so I set myself a 15 minute timer and stretched splits and straddles. Honestly, this probably also helped me be slightly less sore from the snowshoeing (though trust me, I am still plenty sore; I'm still hurting today, Monday).

 

WEEK 1 RECAP:

• Nutrition grab bag: +11
• Lifting: 2/2 complete
• Flexibility: 2/2 complete
• Family time: +5

And finally, to catch the rest of the way up...

 

WEEK 2 DAY 1:

• Nutrition grab bag: -1 (snacks at rehearsal... oops)
• Lifting: none
• Flexibility: none
• Family time: +1 (family meal)

Sunday was not so great on the nutrition front, haha. In my defense, it was a pretty high stress day. Baby was up at 5:45, which was not ideal. We woke up to moderately heavy snowfall and 3+ inches of accumulation (and going up quickly), so we decided we were going to clear out a day early. We managed to clean up after ourselves, pack, and get out of the condo by 8am, which was a minor miracle. The drive home wasn't completely terrible - the first 15 minutes or so of inching down the mountain from the condo was pretty fraught, but once we hit the highway it was fine, despite limited visibility. We got home by 10, which was a second minor miracle. Thankfully, it was barely snowing at all in the city. We settled baby for her nap, then made some lunch. Everyone was starving (probably from being up early, all the hassle, and stress). The nap wasn't a very good one, so kiddo got to join us for pasta (she wasn't mad about it 😝). After our friends left, I started the laundry and the new-old machine started flooding my laundry room again, which did not do much for my calm. We ended up deciding to just go buy a new one and hope against hope that our refund hits before I owe my credit card bill. We picked up a dryer too, as our dryer is as old as the broken washer and probably not long for this world. We got back home and had dinner together as a family, which was a nice, soothing way to cap off a hectic afternoon. Unfortunately, my day wasn't over, because my group for the show called a group rehearsal for a run-through. I helped get the baby ready for bed, read her a story, then headed out. I was at the studio from 7-10:20pm. We made a ton of progress, but there are still a few kinks to iron out. One of my scene partners brought a ton of snacks, and I was so exhausted and hangry that I... ate a lot of them... well after 7. Ah well, you win some, you lose some. Still glad I went, as we're supposedly doing a full act 1 run through this coming Sunday and there is a LOT of work left to do.

 

 

 

Looking forward into this coming week, I anticipate I'll lift Wednesday and Friday because I am SO sore from snowshoeing and rehearsal that I need to take a rest day today (and I have more rehearsal tomorrow). Not sure about flexibility timing yet. And I'll definitely rack up more food points because I'm not traveling.

 

Onward!

[Mad Hatter]

1 hour ago, starsapart said:

I am going to stop whining about work things as of now because what is the point?

Sometimes venting helps. Sometimes it gets old. But we'll always be here to commiserate and virtually dick punch anyone that deserves it.

 

You guys are all so adorable together!

[starsapart]

2 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

Sometimes venting helps. Sometimes it gets old. But we'll always be here to commiserate and virtually dick punch anyone that deserves it.

 

And I appreciate it, but I feel like it's just been the same complaint for days and I have no recourse to improve the situation. I really hate complaining without action so I'm hoping I might feel better (and be less annoying) if I try to stop hyperfocusing on how shitty the work situation is right now.

 

4 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

You guys are all so adorable together!

 

Thank you! This is basically all of my favorite people in the world in one set of photos. My love for my wife and daughter runs deep, but I also I have to give my two closest friends props for being AMAZING and always here for me for so many years and just rolling with the massive life change that is me having a baby (when neither of them has or particularly wants kids), immediately taking on beloved auntie duties and still finding time to hang out and talk and generally be close despite my limited schedule. My life is infinitely richer, more hilarious, and way more fun because they exist in it.

[KB Girl]

Your friends sound awesome ❤️ Glad you all had a good time together! And your daughter is absolutely adorable in your coat like that. 

 

Honestly I'm starting to think you're sort of superhuman with all the things you're doing on little sleep, with flooded laundry rooms and knowing that the work stress is in the background.. and then you even find space to work on and worry about nutrition! Wow. I hope I'll be doing even half as well. 

[starsapart]

7 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Your friends sound awesome ❤️ Glad you all had a good time together! And your daughter is absolutely adorable in your coat like that. 

 

Honestly I'm starting to think you're sort of superhuman with all the things you're doing on little sleep, with flooded laundry rooms and knowing that the work stress is in the background.. and then you even find space to work on and worry about nutrition! Wow. I hope I'll be doing even half as well. 

 

Ha, me, superhuman, no. I run on anxiety and caffeine. My sleep has been decent recently discounting early baby wakings in the mountains so... there's that.

 

 

 

 

WEEK 2 DAY 2:

• Nutrition grab bag: +4 (IF, deficit, zero junk)
• Lifting: none
• Flexibility: none
• Family time: none

Ate well yesterday. The highlight of the day was that my new washer and dryer came and I was able to wash my clothes.

 

However, today is a dumpster fire from start to finish, and yes, I know it is only 10:37am, but... hear me out. I woke up to messages from my house cleaner up in the mountains saying somehow the door to the patio hadn't been closed/locked all the way (???????????? I never went out there?) and there was a bust pipe and a flood in the condo. With renters supposed to be coming in today. So I was scrambling, calling my dad, he's of course upset, I feel like it's my fault because I was the last one up there (EVEN THOUGH I DIDN'T GO ON THE FUCKING PATIO), I'm trying to reach out to today's renters but keep getting voicemail, my dad's taking off work to go up and assess the damage, I'm trying to find alternate accommodations for the renters... it says 3 adults, so I find a place that sleeps up to 4, book it, great. The guy calls me 18 minutes after I book and gives me a browbeating because there isn't a third bed and how dare I assume he and his friends are homos and they demand a different place to stay. In retrospect we should have just given them a refund and told them to deal with their own shit, but instead I cried and shook and fended off anxiety attack for over an hour trying to find places that would meet his exacting non-homosexual standards, then had to describe each location and their bathroom count and where the beds were located and on and on until he was finally happy with something, which I then also booked. Airbnb may or may not give me a refund on the place I initially booked today so I might have just eaten a $600 expense on top of whatever it costs to fix the issues at the condo that insurance won't cover, which who even fucking knows what that will be.

 

Oh, and Izzy was up since 5:45 crying and maybe it's teeth or maybe it's just the universe telling me I should jump off a bridge. And I have a call with Asshole Coworker later, which is shit icing on the shit cake.

[Mad Hatter]

Oh man, what a day. And here I was upset about  spilling eggy gloop on my foot at 10:30 am. Sending you all the hugs. ❤️❤️

[shaar]

Holy shit. Holy shit.  What an absolute NIGHTMARE.  And wow I hope that guy has a miserable little life for how absolutely terrible he was to you.  Agreed, sending you ALL the hugs ❤️❤️ 

[KB Girl]

Yea... all the hugs. 

You are superhuman for dealing with this too, and you will ❤️ I hope asshole coworker wasnt as bad as expected after all that. 

[starsapart]

5 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Oh man, what a day. And here I was upset about  spilling eggy gloop on my foot at 10:30 am. Sending you all the hugs. ❤️❤️

 

Happy to provide... perspective? 😅

 

4 hours ago, loire said:

Holy shit. Holy shit.  What an absolute NIGHTMARE.  And wow I hope that guy has a miserable little life for how absolutely terrible he was to you.  Agreed, sending you ALL the hugs ❤️❤️ 

 

I hope when he checks into the place i rented for him I don't get another call. That is the limit of my high hopes for this situation.

 

2 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Yea... all the hugs. 

You are superhuman for dealing with this too, and you will ❤️ I hope asshole coworker wasnt as bad as expected after all that. 

 

Asshole Coworker was like... a 6 on the scale of awfulness, so tolerable. I got through the call. As a bonus, my baby screamed in the background the entire time and I could tell it annoyed him and I'm not mad about that. 🤷‍♀️

 

 

 

 

In good news (because I too need perspective):

• Our tax refund came!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I was able to pay off the washer/dryer and put out one credit card as well. Waiting to allocate the rest until I see if I need to pay for condo repairs (and how much).
• The groomer came this afternoon and the cat did NOT manage to escape, so he has his lion cut now, which is a load off my mind.
• My amazing friend N, who is currently between jobs, came over at lunchtime and has been helping with the incredibly fussy baby, including letting her strum a ukulele (which she is LOVING).
• I am hopeful about getting the baby to bed if I give her Motrin, so since I have help, I should still be able to make it to rehearsal tonight.
• I have cookies (just a few left, so I won't overeat).

[starsapart]

WEEK 2 DAY 3:

• Nutrition grab bag: +2 (IF, deficit)
• Lifting: none
• Flexibility: none
• Family time: none

Yesterday was all about survival, as you can no doubt imagine. Stuff at the condo is... not great, and insurance may or may not cover anything, but I DID get a refund out of Airbnb and the place I booked on the second go round apparently satisfied Mr. No-Homo, so I hope I will never hear from him again, amen. Also, I forgot to mention, but N brought over two giant bags of homemade gnocchi, which we had for dinner together with the little one, who stopped crying for the duration of the time she was shoving potato dumplings in her mouth (relatable). Otherwise, she basically cried all day with brief pauses when something distracted her. I can now see the edges of her two top teeth just under the skin, so I really think they're going to come this time. Thankfully, giving her Motrin before bed got her sleeping just fine until 6:30am, hallelujah.

 

Rehearsal last night was super low key; I spent half of it just re-cutting the music to fix timing and the other half working through some floor choreography. I didn't touch the lyra once. Honestly, given my overall drained state and the fact that my period decided to make an early appearance thanks to stress (because of course it did), I'm not mad about it. I feel miserable, so low key rehearsal plus social time with my circus people was a good thing.

 

Going to flexibility and contortion tonight, then working on the battle sequence with my duo partner now that we have the final cut of the music for scene two (I think). I'm going to try to take some video if it's worth seeing! I am getting a wee bit stressed out about the runthrough on Sunday because I feel underprepared, but it also seems like we might be the furthest along of all the scenes based on what I've seen in the studio??? We'll see. I also need to go buy my costume leotard and my time is running very short. I was supposed to go yesterday, but LOL. I have no clue when I'll make it, but I really need to go to the dance supply store because buying leotards online doesn't always work out for me. Sigh.

 

Not sure anymore when I'm going to lift... we'll see if I can get up the energy for something low stress today.

[Mad Hatter]

Yaaaay for the tax refund! What a relief that must be to be able to get your shit in order. 
 

I kinda think you’re superhuman too. With all the stuff going on, you’re still doing frickin’ circus performances! Phenomenal.

[starsapart]

1 hour ago, Mad Hatter said:

Yaaaay for the tax refund! What a relief that must be to be able to get your shit in order. 
 

I kinda think you’re superhuman too. With all the stuff going on, you’re still doing frickin’ circus performances! Phenomenal.

 

It's so funny, because from where I sit, it feels like I'm barely treading water. I guess it's that adage of the swan floating "languidly" on a pond while under the water its feet churn furiously. I'll just say thank you to any of you who find what I do impressive. As I told @WhiteGhost on his thread a bit ago, sometimes we forget to notice things about ourselves that look amazing to others. So, thank you for thinking well of me. ☺️

[starsapart]

WEEK 2 DAY 4:

• Nutrition grab bag: +2 (IF, veggie day)
• Lifting: none
• Flexibility: 1/2
• Family time: +1 (family dinner)

 

Yesterday, I went to flexibility class after dinner, then had practice with my scene partner. I also may have to step in and sub for an injured performer in an act 1 number as well, which is a little terrifying. I guess I'm rehearsing with that group this weekend during the run-through. Because that's a totally reasonable moment to step into something you've never seen before, right? All things considered, it's a pretty easy part, and on silks, which is my primary apparatus, so I CAN do it. They just need a strong base. Which, okay. Hopefully the injured girl's costume will fit me? Because they got custom-made costumes for their piece??? WHAT IS MY LIFE.

 

And then today I woke up sick! 🙃 Throat is sore, brain is in a fog. And baby's coughing a bit as well. JOY.

 

 

[raptron]

1 hour ago, starsapart said:

Yesterday, I went to flexibility class after dinner, then had practice with my scene partner. I also may have to step in and sub for an injured performer in an act 1 number as well, which is a little terrifying. I guess I'm rehearsing with that group this weekend during the run-through. Because that's a totally reasonable moment to step into something you've never seen before, right? All things considered, it's a pretty easy part, and on silks, which is my primary apparatus, so I CAN do it. They just need a strong base. Which, okay. Hopefully the injured girl's costume will fit me? Because they got custom-made costumes for their piece??? WHAT IS MY LIFE.

Damn, dude. 

 

1 hour ago, starsapart said:

And then today I woke up sick! 🙃 Throat is sore, brain is in a fog. And baby's coughing a bit as well. JOY

☹️Hope it's just a quick blip of sick.

[KB Girl]

I hope you learn choreography fast

badass of you to take that on!

 

hope the sick goes away pronto.

[starsapart]

On 2/27/2020 at 9:59 AM, raptron said:

 

☹️Hope it's just a quick blip of sick.

 

17 hours ago, KB Girl said:

hope the sick goes away pronto.

 

Still sick, but feeling better today than yesterday, which is a good early sign.

 

17 hours ago, KB Girl said:

I hope you learn choreography fast

badass of you to take that on!

 

Badass? Insane? TIME WILL TELL.

 

WEEK 2 DAY 5:

• Nutrition grab bag: +3 (IF, deficit, veggie day)
• Lifting: none
• Flexibility: none
• Family time: +1 (family dinner)

 

Yesterday was pure survival mode as I felt sicker as the day went on. Will I make my lifting goal this week? LOL, no. Whatever. I'm going to try to finish out flexiness at least, and food is going okay. I call that good enough considering I was barely mobile. Highlight of the day was discovering I could lie on the sofa and put a blanket on my head, which baby would then pull off of me and laugh when my face was revealed, essentially playing peekaboo with herself while I rested. A+ me. There's a short clip in my insta stories if you want to see that ridiculousness.

[Mad Hatter]

14 minutes ago, starsapart said:

Badass? Insane? TIME WILL TELL.

WHY NOT BOTH?