RisenPhoenix Channels Past Lives

[raptron]

AJSDAKSJDHJAKLFHADBFSKHJDGNJLKSJKG:KSGJKLDFG

 

DOG!

 

[RisenPhoenix]

Dog Update:  Still waiting to hear back about my paperwork from the shelter.  I also was told by my downstairs neighbor the the HOA does have a size limit (been a while since I read the documents), and is limited to smaller dogs.  The Football-sized ones I am not the biggest fan of.  I don't want a 90 pound monster, but something in the 40-60 pound range is really what my brain has in mind.  The dog I'm really hoping to get is 55 pounds, which is a fair bit over what the HOA might allow.  That said, I showed my neighbor the dog photo, she thinks he's adorable, and also is tempted to ignore the rule.  With the two of us, I pitched maybe making an amendment, since that's all it would take.  The small dog thing was mostly for neighbor noise, so maybe something along the lines of "larger dogs are subject to impacted neighbor's approval before adoption occurs, and apply exception until the dog owner moves."  Actually means people need to talk to one another, plus prevents a new owner from trying to get rid of the dog (because the dog would be here first, tough).  I'll go re-read things and then see what we can do.  I may just need to tell my neighbor I'll buy and put down very padded rugs.

 

Challenge Update..... Ugh guys.  Just Ugh.

 

1) Aikido stuff is a bit loose right now.  I should have done a weapons practice last night, but weather hit, and then motivation lagged to do the Zoom class make up.  Tonight we're supposed to have an actual in person dojo class taught by Sensei, outside the church where we're temporarily based.  A random popup class is scheduled on Thursday, but, uh, I have a date at that time so I'm probably missing that unless I need to do tech duty.  And then Saturday there is another class I'm going to try to hit since I need to work a bit, and then an Aikido And COVID panel I want to virtually attend as well.

 

2) Outdoor stuff has been spotty because it's been super rainy and thunderstorm filled.  The days it hasn't been have also been days I have things scheduled, so that torpedoes some things there.  I might try to get a reservation set for more kayaking on Friday, though.  Because I paid a lot of money to get a season pass, so I should use it.

 

3) I think this plan has totally backfired.  I've been fairly solid on keeping the 12pm-9pm eating window, which is fine.  But I can absolutely eat all the things without trying.  I weighed myself this morning and I was 217.  Lower than I was in January and early February, but  much higher than I wanted to be in May.  So.  Back to what works - logging all the things.  Small exception here in I'm just not going to log my fibrous veggies (cucumbers, zucchini, leafy greens, broccoli, etc etc) just to keep my sanity.  Carby things, yea.  But just limit the amount of time on the app, I eat a lot of veggies, and I'm unlikely to eat 3000 calories of cucumbers.  New goal is to get back down to 210 by end of August (also my waist measurement has also ballooned, so this is not just "RP fretting over the scale, before people comment on it - some work clothes are tight again).

 

4) The garden is doing okay, has kept watered, and the tomato plant has many small green guys growing.  Still no zucchini seen, though.  Also, I propagated a tomato plant cutting!  Probably won't actually end up producing anything this season, but I'm pleased.

 

Bonus) @AgentsSka and I are neck-and-neck for the 1,000 pushup stretch goal.  He said he's going to do 80 pushups today, so I need to get on it.

[AgentsSka]

1 hour ago, RisenPhoenix said:

Dog Update:  Still waiting to hear back about my paperwork from the shelter.  

 

Don't be afraid to hound them.

 

 

Call. Email.  Pound on the door.

 

1 hour ago, RisenPhoenix said:

I also was told by my downstairs neighbor the the HOA does have a size limit (been a while since I read the documents), and is limited to smaller dogs.  The Football-sized ones I am not the biggest fan of.  I don't want a 90 pound monster, but something in the 40-60 pound range is really what my brain has in mind.  The dog I'm really hoping to get is 55 pounds, which is a fair bit over what the HOA might allow. 

 

HOA's suck.

 

 

1 hour ago, RisenPhoenix said:

A random popup class is scheduled on Thursday, but, uh, I have a date at that time so I'm probably missing that unless I need to do tech duty. 

 

A.  Fixed it.

B.  👇🏻

 

1 hour ago, RisenPhoenix said:

Bonus) @AgentsSka and I are neck-and-neck for the 1,000 pushup stretch goal.  He said he's going to do 80 pushups today, so I need to get on it.

 

Is that how this played out?  I remember it slightly differently.

 

 

But, yeah.  We getting after it.

[Mistr]

I'm glad you are feeling better than last week.

 

Boy do I hear you on the stress eating. I keep telling myself things are fine, but my hindbrain is not buying it. My current strategy is to have salad for at least one meal a day and cut off eating by about 7pm. We'll see if that works.

 

Yay for getting a dog! Post photos when you can.

[Ranger Hal]

On ‎7‎/‎12‎/‎2020 at 2:58 PM, RisenPhoenix said:

And unfortunately, the zucchini has some fungal infection (Phrasing?).  All of the flowers that looked so promising have fallen off, but I don't really have a hint as to what it is or why it's looking that way.  The leaves are all fairly green, but when I tear the fallen flowers open I can see green fuzzy mold.  No idea where it is coming from.  There are some smaller flowers still growing, but I can't fight an infection that doesn't give me much information to run on.  Any help from the gardeners of the group? 

 

I'm not a master gardener by any means, but I have grown zucchini plants once or twice. I did have the problem of flowers falling off, although I didn't go looking inside them for green fuzzy mold, so it's possible you have a different problem. My problem was most likely a pollination issue. If there isn't enough pollination between the male and female flowers, the female ones will fall off. Pollination apparently got better on its own after a while because I did get zucchini out of the plants. I've heard that you can pollinate by hand, but I didn't try it. Also, I think male flowers fall off after releasing pollen, but that's okay because they weren't going to grow into zucchini anyway.

[Kishi]

On ‎7‎/‎15‎/‎2020 at 9:02 AM, RisenPhoenix said:

3) I think this plan has totally backfired.  I've been fairly solid on keeping the 12pm-9pm eating window, which is fine.  But I can absolutely eat all the things without trying.  I weighed myself this morning and I was 217.  Lower than I was in January and early February, but  much higher than I wanted to be in May.  So.  Back to what works - logging all the things.  Small exception here in I'm just not going to log my fibrous veggies (cucumbers, zucchini, leafy greens, broccoli, etc etc) just to keep my sanity.  Carby things, yea.  But just limit the amount of time on the app, I eat a lot of veggies, and I'm unlikely to eat 3000 calories of cucumbers.  New goal is to get back down to 210 by end of August (also my waist measurement has also ballooned, so this is not just "RP fretting over the scale, before people comment on it - some work clothes are tight again).

 

Can verify that logging fibrous veggies is generally unnecessary. I stopped logging mine a while ago and it's made no difference in my outcomes one way or the other.

[RisenPhoenix]

Yeesh, I kept meaning to update this and was lazy.  Whoops.

 

 

On 7/15/2020 at 5:52 PM, Mistr said:

I'm glad you are feeling better than last week.

 

Boy do I hear you on the stress eating. I keep telling myself things are fine, but my hindbrain is not buying it. My current strategy is to have salad for at least one meal a day and cut off eating by about 7pm. We'll see if that works.

 

Yay for getting a dog! Post photos when you can.

 

I did feel much better after a lot of sleep and some selfcare.  I could use another mini charge this week, too, but I'll survive for now.  The thing that helped last week was the fact I actually got my weekend, instead of worrying about going into work for a long experiment.  So that was super.  This weekend I had to go in again, but I bartered with my coworker to cover her stuff on Saturday so she would cover mine on Sunday.  I used yesterday well in decompression needs.

 

Yea, my eating has not been super great.  I logged up until Thursday last week. Then it all went to shit.  Whoops.  Back on the train today, though.

 

And the dog is still pending I get approval from the shelter.  And I've heard nothing.  But honestly I keep flitting back and forth on if I think I can handle a dog by myself given my life.  Dunno.  On one hand I can manage I think.  On the other... its a lot to do alone and I'd be worried I'd have to give the dog away and do not want to do that.  It's like the main reason why I held off looking into shelters and adoptions when the pandemic started.  Dunno.

 

On 7/17/2020 at 1:55 PM, Ranger Hal said:

I'm not a master gardener by any means, but I have grown zucchini plants once or twice. I did have the problem of flowers falling off, although I didn't go looking inside them for green fuzzy mold, so it's possible you have a different problem. My problem was most likely a pollination issue. If there isn't enough pollination between the male and female flowers, the female ones will fall off. Pollination apparently got better on its own after a while because I did get zucchini out of the plants. I've heard that you can pollinate by hand, but I didn't try it. Also, I think male flowers fall off after releasing pollen, but that's okay because they weren't going to grow into zucchini anyway.

 

I have definitely hear that zucchini is hard to grow.  That seems to be the common theme.  I've seen not a damn flower in days now, and certainly no veggies grown.  Ah well.

 

On 7/17/2020 at 3:21 PM, Kishi said:

Can verify that logging fibrous veggies is generally unnecessary. I stopped logging mine a while ago and it's made no difference in my outcomes one way or the other.

 

Yea, I usually half assed the green veggie counting.  The only thing that kept me going was the complete data collection drive I have.  Trying to find ways to make sure I keep accountable and not go insane with extra tasks now.

 

-------------------

 

Hokay, so, yea, life has been going on.

 

Last Wednesday was the first in-person class my dojo has officially hosted.  Sensei taught, we were outside on the church grounds were we are subletting, and  there were a good number of us.  We did the 30 step jo kata, with a few tweaks that my Sensei said Kanai Sensei made in the end so that's how we need to do it.  I hate the jo kata, but it was a good refresher and getting to see everyone was wonderful.  Saw my grading partner for the first time since February, and he and I actually ended up staying after class and talking for an hour catching up. 

 

Then came ALL the socializing and mostly terrible food logging: Thursday night I had the date, which was enjoyable but she said no to a second date. Womp Womp.  But that was nice since I got to actually go to a restaurant.  Still a bit mehhhh about that in general, but I can't deny that it was enjoyable.  Friday night my neighbor suggested beverages and then we spent the night on my porch drinking.  And then Saturday I ran around in the morning for work, and then that night @AgentsSka and his girlfriend came over and I grilled some corn and steak tips, and had some broccoli.  And beer.  A lot of beer.  But at least this time he didn't break out the whiskey at 11PM AND we didn't have NP in the morning, so it was all good.  Sunday I decided to just do my best to not eat crap, regardless of the counting.  So I spent the day being somewhat relaxed, and just enjoying the little things, like building in Animal Crossing while listening to the new Audiobook of Sandman that released last week.  For four hours.  Plus I got to eat the leftover steak and corn and veggies from Saturday night.

 

Today has been.... busy and accomplished?  Did NP this morning, then ran into work.  Accomplished a chunk there, and now am home to do paperwork for a few more hours.  Food has been solid, not much 'bad' here so far, just some bread.  And then I guess a whole bunch of cherries.  I'm grabbing a virtual beer tonight with one of my NP friends who isn't Ska since he's also never around the workouts these days.  Then I think I need a human breather.  Sword work Tuesday, more jo probably on Wednesday, Yoga Thursday, and then I think I'll chill Friday and Saturday this week.  Sunday my former roommate is crashing at my place for a short visit, before he returns to PA.

 

So yea.  Lots going on and moving and keeping me busy, and I'm starting to remember what it's like to have a full calendar between work and workouts and post work workouts and post work plans.  Not sure how I feel about it, honestly.  I liked the slower pace of things and the no pressure of being around people with the pandemic.  I'm sure I"m not the only homebody introvert who feels this way...

[AgentsSka]

[raptron]

43 minutes ago, RisenPhoenix said:

Saw my grading partner for the first time since February, and he and I actually ended up staying after class and talking for an hour catching up. 

Awwww.

 

43 minutes ago, RisenPhoenix said:

Saturday I ran around in the morning for work, and then that night @AgentsSka and his girlfriend came over and I grilled some corn and steak tips, and had some broccoli.  And beer.  A lot of beer.  But at least this time he didn't break out the whiskey at 11PM AND we didn't have NP in the morning, so it was all good. 

I think I can bike pretty easily to the new RP residence. Just saying. 😁

 

43 minutes ago, RisenPhoenix said:

Sunday I decided to just do my best to not eat crap, regardless of the counting.  So I spent the day being somewhat relaxed, and just enjoying the little things, like building in Animal Crossing while listening to the new Audiobook of Sandman that released last week.  For four hours.  Plus I got to eat the leftover steak and corn and veggies from Saturday night.

That sounds like a very chill Sundayyyy.

 

43 minutes ago, RisenPhoenix said:

So yea.  Lots going on and moving and keeping me busy, and I'm starting to remember what it's like to have a full calendar between work and workouts and post work workouts and post work plans.  Not sure how I feel about it, honestly.  I liked the slower pace of things and the no pressure of being around people with the pandemic.  

Haha, aw. Some of us have been like 📈about the increased calendar load, but, I am not surprised if you're more 📉about it, hehe. At least the "sorry, I have a lot of pandemic stress" is still a very valid out when it comes to plans! 

[AgentsSka]

23 minutes ago, raptron said:

I think I can bike pretty easily to the new RP residence. Just saying. 😁

 

 

I'm pretty sure you can easily bike to our new place too.  I'll be sure to send you an invite.   

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

I'm kinda jealous of the NF Boston Mafia.

[bigm141414]

5 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I'm kinda jealous of the NF Boston Mafia.

 

 

Meeeeeee too. Ain't no one biking over to my place. 

[Mistr]

Good for you getting at least one full weekend day and using it to relax.

4 hours ago, RisenPhoenix said:

And the dog is still pending I get approval from the shelter.  And I've heard nothing.  But honestly I keep flitting back and forth on if I think I can handle a dog by myself given my life.  Dunno.  On one hand I can manage I think.  On the other... its a lot to do alone and I'd be worried I'd have to give the dog away and do not want to do that.  It's like the main reason why I held off looking into shelters and adoptions when the pandemic started.  Dunno.

 

Having a dog gives you a continual reason to go outside. That is a double-edged sword, especially as you think about winter. You certainly are able to do the tasks needed. You get up for NP and go running in awful conditions. The question is how you will feel about it after the initial shine wears off. If you still have doubts, consider fostering a dog. Then you can give it back with no guilt if you decide that long-term dog ownership is not for you.

 

4 hours ago, RisenPhoenix said:

I have definitely hear that zucchini is hard to grow.  That seems to be the common theme.  I've seen not a damn flower in days now, and certainly no veggies grown.  Ah well.

 

Say whaaaat? 

 

In my area, the story is that people in small towns don't lock their cars 11 months of the year. They only lock them in August, because if they leave the doors unlocked, people will leave zucchini on the seats. Really, one hill of zucchini is enough to feed several families.

 

I suspect your plant is unhappy because it cannot take over the world from your deck.

 

4 hours ago, RisenPhoenix said:

So yea.  Lots going on and moving and keeping me busy, and I'm starting to remember what it's like to have a full calendar between work and workouts and post work workouts and post work plans.  Not sure how I feel about it, honestly.  I liked the slower pace of things and the no pressure of being around people with the pandemic.  I'm sure I"m not the only homebody introvert who feels this way...

 

Yeah, me too. I'm not looking forward to aikido starting again. I feel like I'm just barely making a dent in my to-do list with no outside engagements. I can wait.

[AgentsSka]

2 hours ago, Mistr said:

Say whaaaat? 

 

In my area, the story is that people in small towns don't lock their cars 11 months of the year. They only lock them in August, because if they leave the doors unlocked, people will leave zucchini on the seats. Really, one hill of zucchini is enough to feed several families.

 

This is hilarious.

[Kishi]

8 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I'm kinda jealous of the NF Boston Mafia.

 

8 hours ago, bigm141414 said:

 

 

Meeeeeee too. Ain't no one biking over to my place. 

 

Me three. There are nerds in NC but only one I know that's local to me and I can't even hang with her now 'cuz of the stupid pandemic.

[RisenPhoenix]

On 7/20/2020 at 6:07 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I'm kinda jealous of the NF Boston Mafia.

 

I won't lie, it's kind of nice and probably the reason I'm still even on the forums.  Because early days there were so many of us regularly around that we would either not do a challenge and get teased for it next meet up or would do challenges with one another.

 

On 7/20/2020 at 6:13 PM, bigm141414 said:

Meeeeeee too. Ain't no one biking over to my place. 

 

Hey, you didn't live that far at one point and turned down most of our opportunities to hang out.  I don't wanna hear it.

 

On 7/20/2020 at 7:10 PM, Mistr said:

Having a dog gives you a continual reason to go outside. That is a double-edged sword, especially as you think about winter. You certainly are able to do the tasks needed. You get up for NP and go running in awful conditions. The question is how you will feel about it after the initial shine wears off. If you still have doubts, consider fostering a dog. Then you can give it back with no guilt if you decide that long-term dog ownership is not for you.

 

Oh, I'm not worried about the weather part, it's the TIME part.  Things at work are picking up again, so I'm just worried about long days coming out of no where.  But the fostering idea actually might be something worth looking into...

 

On 7/20/2020 at 7:10 PM, Mistr said:

Say whaaaat? 

 

In my area, the story is that people in small towns don't lock their cars 11 months of the year. They only lock them in August, because if they leave the doors unlocked, people will leave zucchini on the seats. Really, one hill of zucchini is enough to feed several families.

 

I suspect your plant is unhappy because it cannot take over the world from your deck.

 

Seriously, the plant LOOKS lovely.  It just.... isn't producing.  And that is dumb because I really like zucchini. 

 

On 7/20/2020 at 7:10 PM, Mistr said:

Yeah, me too. I'm not looking forward to aikido starting again. I feel like I'm just barely making a dent in my to-do list with no outside engagements. I can wait.

 

Yea, the in person aikido classes are interesting for me these days.  I don't know if the weapon work will hold my attention long enough, especially as we are still doing no-contact, even at sword length distance.  Maybe if I had an instructor that know some of Kanai sensei's partnered suburi it would be okay, but not many of my instructors do, or do well enough to share, or are around at all.  I could look them up online maybe, but then I need people I trust to practice with, which is a whole other issue. We'll see.

 

But yea, adding things to my nighttime to-do list has been less great.

 

 

On 7/21/2020 at 2:28 AM, Kishi said:

Me three. There are nerds in NC but only one I know that's local to me and I can't even hang with her now 'cuz of the stupid pandemic.

 

You know you're always welcome to invade here.  I even have a real bed for people these days.

 

----------------------

 

Oh man this is the end of the challenge.  What was I supposed to do again?  This feels like the start was both yesterday and also 5 months ago.

 

1) Aikido returns: I'm mostly getting by with this.  We actually had two cancellations this week for the actual classes, but I did make it to the weapons class my friend does at a park on Tuesday.  That'll be going by the wayside at some point when he leaves in a few weeks, so I should at least grab him to try some stuff where I don't have to worry about lower ranks, er, getting in the way.  I know a few of said lower ranks want ME to pick up teaching the class, but.... No.  I had a hard enough time doing that for a few weeks at the beginning of the year, and that was mostly take aways.  The solo practice stuff I need to work on myself, and since it doesn't thrill me is not a priority.  But given one of the lower ranks is on the board and likes to try to push me that way, I'm probably going to have to have some conversation with her about it because my brain will not like constantly being push where I don't want to go.  But I'll cross that bridge when I have to.

 

2) Enjoy the Sun: I got outside as much as possible, given weather constraints.  The outdoor weapons helped, I managed to go kayaking a literal couple of times (yesterday I went after work).  Otherwise it's been a lot of hikes.

 

3) Log the Bad Stuff: Ehhhh..... I kept (for the most part) to the IF window, even on some days where it felt like torture.  But I managed.  I can still eat SO MUCH FOOD, even Paleo-approved things.  But yea, there was a lot of not-Paleo.  Logging calories has been going better.  I'm liking the IF + Logging method.  I know it defeats the point of the IF, but I don't think I care.  I'm still eating a bunch, probably averaging about 2300-2400 calories a day.  I haven't logged my workouts, either, so overall intake is less.  I'm going to keep doing that for the time being.  It goes back always to I do best when logging my food.  But maybe I can find that reduced level that will make things less needed over time.

 

4) Conquer the Black Thumb:  The garden is still alive!  Even if the zucchini isn't producing, the cherry tomatoes are.  It's still got a lot of green guys, but they are definitely going to be numerous.  The strawberries had a few pop up, and then stop, which is a bummer.  The herb garden has been used several times (mostly the basil and the replanted green onions).  Nothing crazy, but nothing is out-and-out dead.  Though the mint is rapidly declining, even with regular waterings.  So maybe I have just transferred all the black thumb to the nigh-unkillable plant instead....

 

Bonus) Agni Kai: Pummel AgentsSka.  I did.  I pummeled.  My arms and shoulders hate me.  Please don't ask me to do a pushup for another 3 years.  I managed the 1500 yesterday, thanks to NP workouts.  No more.  I beg of you.  Please.

 

 

And so yea, that's this whole challenge wrapped up.  Not sure how I feel about it.  Mostly successful?  I wish I had a slightly better feel for my weak points right now.  But maybe I'll reflect on them tonight and see what challenge I can create for the next cycle.  Any thoughts and commentary and suggested are welcome.

[AgentsSka]

5 hours ago, RisenPhoenix said:

Bonus) Agni Kai: Pummel AgentsSka.  I did.  I pummeled.  My arms and shoulders hate me.  Please don't ask me to do a pushup for another 3 years.  I managed the 1500 yesterday, thanks to NP workouts.  No more.  I beg of you.  Please.

 

You are utilizing a very liberal definition of the word pummeled, friend.

 

1505 pushups to 1500... and you beat me to 1500 by 24 hours.... 

 

But, indeed... You won.

 

See you next challenge for more pushups... and pull-up(s).

[RisenPhoenix]

9 minutes ago, AgentsSka said:

You are utilizing a very liberal definition of the word pummeled, friend.

I am okay with this. 

[Mistr]

Hey, you got through the challenge doing a fair number of good things and no major crisis. That is an improvement from earlier in the year. I feel like we need time to rest and regroup. See you next challenge.

[Kishi]

Yeah, gonna echo and say that you're managing now a lot better than you really have before and that's huge progress. I honestly don't know that I'd say there's any weak points sticking out right now; the big one I was worried about for you was that your training would grind down without the weights but you seem to have shifted gears rather admirably and with very little trouble.

 

I dunno. If I get any ideas, I'll let you know.