Juliebarkley clears a path

[juliebarkley]

I have been checking my list of one-year goals, and man, has 2020 given them a good thwack. I am pretty far from hitting several of them; far enough that it is fair to say that even if I worked flat out on them, I have no chance of achieving them by the end of the year. However, all is not lost! I have several goals that I am either on track for or could easily be with a little effort. This challenge will be about doubling down on those goals with the aim of getting the most I can out of the dumpster fire of a year that has been 2020.

 

Here are the goals that look salvageable (some more salvageable than others):

Spoiler

 

- I can do three pullups.

- I can do 5 pistols on each side.

- I can do 5 parkour movements.

- I am brushing my teeth at least once a day with proper routine.

- I am reading for 30 minutes per day minimum.

- I will be praying isha every day.

- I will email one family member per month.

- I will have no repair pile (or 1-2 very recent items max).

- I will have all RSS feeds from the mini moved.

- I will be completely finished with my physical book project.

 

 

These are in the maybe pile of my year-end goals:

Spoiler

 

- I can do a 5-second handstand.

- I will have all of my money invested in logical places and a set of objective investing criteria in place.

- My paper inbox will have nothing older than 1 week and will be regularly checked.

- I will have a gold Duo tree in French, Esperanto, and Spanish.

- I will have reread Fluent Forever and started creating cards.

 

 

That's quite a few things! And a lot of them are not time-consuming, hard things. The ones that are fit two themes: clearing-out-type projects and fitness projects. Very convenient.

 

Here are the goals I have gleaned from that longer list:

1. Stick to my schedule. The daily items on my goal list are already in there, and I have been doing them at least some of the time, but they need firming up.

2. Fitness goals.

     - Research scapular exercises and add these to my post-walk routine. I am pretty convinced that weakness here is what is holding me back.

     - Research parkour moves (vaults, jumps, really anything counts) that I could practice either indoors or outdoors in my current location and try a new one each week. Maybe the snow that's coming will provide padding?

     - Find my pullup bar, install it, and see if they are any easier with a stable bar.

     - Don't miss workouts! They already have exercises for working towards pistols and pullups included! (BTW, is anyone interested in the actual details of said workouts? I never include them because it is the same thing every time. Only the reps change until I'm ready to move up in a category.)

3. Clearing-out goals. Work on one of the clearing-out projects every day. They'll likely not be done by the end of the challenge (this is an annual goal, after all), but I want a good, solid dent. Ideally, they would average half the amount they are now by challenge end.

4. Make Christmas/"winter holiday" presents. I have a lot of new work colleagues. Truthfully, I do not currently know how many - somewhere between twenty and thirty, I think. I always make a small present for everybody. Last year, I made origami snowflakes. This year, I will make tatted snowflakes. (I like snowflakes. They have no religious meaning, so they are good for everyone and you can keep them around after your Christmas decorations go away if you want). I will figure out how many colleagues I have, and make at least half of the snowflakes that I will need. We will see how realistic this is.

5. Post on someone else's challenge every day. I really do feel happier when I have posted something one someone else's thread - both more engaged and connected with the community, and more welcoming, helpful, and supportive. So I shall make the time to do this.

 

Bonus goal:

I would love the get a backup system set up for my computer setup. It feels overwhelming to think it through, decide what needs to be stored where, how to connect it all, and what I need to buy to make it all work. It's probably not actually that bad if I sit down and plan it out. If I have extra time after working on the above (not too likely), I shall work on this.

[juliebarkley]

Just for perspective on the clearing-out portion of this challenge, this is the half of my bedroom that I would really like to have back so that I can have shelves, do handstands, and just plain be able to walk in there without interesting acrobatic moves.

 

https://imgur.com/a/5sMnJh2

 

[WhiteGhost]

I am of course here for this!

 

If you get stuck looking for idea about scapular exercises or parkour moves, feel free to hit me up  

[Scaly Freak]

8 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Just for perspective on the clearing-out portion of this challenge, this is the half of my bedroom that I would really like to have back so that I can have shelves, do handstands, and just plain be able to walk in there without interesting acrobatic moves

 

Is it just me, or would that be easier to clean out if you had a shelf nearby? Or is a shelf something that will happen in Phase 2?

[juliebarkley]

7 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

If you get stuck looking for idea about scapular exercises or parkour moves, feel free to hit me up

I may just do that. Always nice to have you along!

 

4 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

Is it just me, or would that be easier to clean out if you had a shelf nearby? Or is a shelf something that will happen in Phase 2?

Shelves are Phase 2. There is currently one shelving unit (which is visible in the picture, but already full of other things). The long-term plan is to add one more set (maybe two, but then I lose my handstand wall) so that the room is set up kind of like a capital B: two mini-rooms separated by back-to-back shelving units, with a hallway of sorts connecting them. The other non-visible side currently has the bookshelves and reading chair, and converts into a vocal booth. The side in the photo currently holds filed paperwork, homeschool accessories, sprouting seeds, and other random items. I'm not sure what all it will hold in the end. I'd kind of like to get my board games and hobby supplies in there, but it's not Mary Poppins' carpet bag. I"m not sure what will fit.

[Jupiter]

Following!  

[juliebarkley]

4 hours ago, Jupiter said:

Following!  

Happy you're here!

 

1. Stick to my schedule.

Not too bad. Going to do some Duo after this post, then I should probably head for bed.

 

2. Fitness goals.

Regular exercises completed.

Scapular exercises researched. I've picked out a couple, but haven't actually tried them yet. I did learn a cue which I hope is right, "put your shoulder blades in your back pocket".

Parkour briefly thought about. I think I will try some precision jumping this week. It has been raining a lot, and there is snow in the forecast, so this will allow me to either work on it after my walk, or during the walk (which is even better). No rolls today - it was muddy and my shoe leaks, and by the time I had cleaned up I had forgotten. That is my excuse anyway.

Pullup bar found! No further progress yet.

 

3. Clearing-out goals.

One inbox item, and one picked out for tomorrow as it is too time-consuming for right now. Not as much as I'd hoped. Especially as I added two items to the repair pile.

 

4. Make Christmas/"winter holiday" presents.

I found something in the cluttered heap that is half of my bedroom that I think will work for the tatting - the warp from a weaving project that I cut ages ago then lost interest in starting. It had been put in a bag to get rid of, but apparently just got shoved in a corner instead. I also found some plain white crochet cotton, so this means I can make two-coloured snowflakes if I want, with the warp threads as the accent colours.

 

5. Post on someone else's challenge every day.

This is very easy to do when there is a big pile of shiny new challenges to look through.

 

I finally sent in my order for new bras today. I learned that Canadian shop apparently hate my size. I could find only three shops that stocked more than one or two, and one of those stocked almost exclusively sports and strapless in my size for some reason, with the rest being final sale. Luckily for me, the one shop that has a reasonable selection sells overstock/clearance items exclusively, but still lets you return items if they are over $20. Since most of the items are $25-30 and shipping is flat rate, I went a little nuts and ordered a whole bunch in a range of sizes in full knowledge that I will be returning most of them. Fingers crossed that something will work (and thanks to @deftona for all her help!). I also helped my mom find bras that might work for her, so that was interesting.

 

We are starting an exercise-the-cat experiment by carrying her partway up the road and letting her run home in the hopes that she will lose weight. Time will tell how successful this is. She's pushing 8kg now, so something must be done.

 

I learned today that my son has been running a casino on his Minecraft server since May (all for in-game cash; nothing illegal). He has built versions of casino games, carnival games, and some of his own invention, running about 60/40 in favour of the house. It has apparently made him one of the richest players on the server. Through this little enterprise he has learned how to balance games to favour the house and how to keep players coming back. He has wondered at how people will play despite the odds clearly being against them (and how high he could push the odds before they would balk), and watched a bit of the addictive effect as they keep playing until they lose all of the money they have. He told me he now has no desire to ever visit a real casino.

[juliebarkley]

1. Stick to my schedule.

Chucked it entirely today. Got nowhere near enough sleep (not uncommon for a Tuesday), felt a bit off, and decided to nap immediately on arriving home. I didn't do so last week and regretted it - other obligations start to get in the way later on, so it is nap early or nap never. Still felt a bit off on waking, which is also not all that unusual if I've had to start early in the day on little sleep. If I still feel funny in the morning (a bit feverish or nauseous), I'll have to call in sick to work out of caution. Now that it is after midnight, I am finally feeling normal, so since the schedule is shot, I'm just going to throw myself into the getting-rid-of projects.

 

2. Fitness goals.

Hung the pullup bar, maybe. It's not firm enough that I'm really confident in it, but it's good enough for scapular work. Tried a set of scapular pullups.

 

3. Clearing-out goals.

Finished the inbox item from yesterday (which added a bunch of items to my todo list), added an item to the inbox, and am sitting down to work on my book pile now.

 

4. Make Christmas/"winter holiday" presents.

I have 29 work colleagues. I counted today. I'll make 30 just to be on the safe side, so the target for the end of this challenge is 15. I have 7 patterns picked out to try.

 

5. Post on someone else's challenge every day.

Done!

[KB Girl]

On 10/27/2020 at 6:59 AM, juliebarkley said:

"put your shoulder blades in your back pocket".

Yes! I use that one all the time  

 

Following! Such a good thing to do an inventory of goals. And I need declutter inspiration. 

[juliebarkley]

6 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Yes! I use that one all the time  

Good to know it's good advice.

 

6 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Following! Such a good thing to do an inventory of goals. And I need declutter inspiration. 

I wrote out a five-year plan at the end of 2019. I am behind, even with the lockdown-gifted free time, so it may be overly ambitious, but at least it gives me direction. Regarding the clutter, I had over twenty large bins of books in the basement at the start of the year, in addition to three full shelving units. This remaining pile looks big, but serious progress has been made and everything along the back wall is discards to be checked for saleability. You know, when I "have time".

 

Even less accomplished today than on a usual Wednesday, because I was not able to get out of bed until much later than normal. I have been sleeping 9-10 hours a lot of nights lately; not sure why. I have been tired and/or hungry an awful lot of the time.

 

1. Stick to my schedule.

Not really so much, no.

 

2. Fitness goals.

I fully intend to try out all of the scapular exercises that I picked out. I may go on a night walk, which is probably not conducive to precision jumping.

 

3. Clearing-out goals.

Maybe will work a little on this? More likely I will work on #4. I added quite a few items to my inbox and repair pile, alas.

 

4. Make Christmas/"winter holiday" presents.

Planning to start this after food.

 

5. Post on someone else's challenge every day.

This I have done. I have quite a few challenges to read through (I try to read the first post of everyone's challenge) - hope I finish before the end of the challenge!

 

I have realized that I am going to be scheduled for about 3.5 hours at least twice a week on door duty at work. That means counting people coming in and out, repacking boxes, and that's about it, all by yourself in a hallway. I don't think I am allowed to read or anything like that where you don't look ready to greet the customer. For the past couple of weeks, this has been how I passed about half of my work hours. Now, I am pretty good at allowing my mind to wander free for long periods of time, but that is easier when there are some stimuli to aid the wandering, which was provided by the happenings of the great outdoors. Now that we are indoors with the doors shut, it's harder to see and hear outside, and it's harder work to keep my imagination happy. The only physical thing I have to ponder on indoors is the fire alarm directly opposite my chair and the fire hose (pulling the alarm is tempting but not an option). Since I'm being paid to sit and think, more or less, I would like to come up with some things that I can do (that I'm not likely to get in trouble for) that will take advantage of this enforced thinking time but require minimal writing or materials (must be easily concealed in a pocket). Like planning out the backup system for my computers. Lists of some kind. Planning and brainstorming basically. If anyone has any ideas for my imagination vacations, I'm all ears.

 

 

[WhiteGhost]

On 10/27/2020 at 1:59 PM, juliebarkley said:

I learned today that my son has been running a casino on his Minecraft server since May (all for in-game cash; nothing illegal). He has built versions of casino games, carnival games, and some of his own invention, running about 60/40 in favour of the house. It has apparently made him one of the richest players on the server. Through this little enterprise he has learned how to balance games to favour the house and how to keep players coming back. He has wondered at how people will play despite the odds clearly being against them (and how high he could push the odds before they would balk), and watched a bit of the addictive effect as they keep playing until they lose all of the money they have. He told me he now has no desire to ever visit a real casino.

This is so awesome, I love everything about it (especially the last bit  ).  

 

3 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

If anyone has any ideas for my imagination vacations, I'm all ears.

I don't have anything.  Trying to fill my brain without external stimulation of some kids seems nearly impossible, I can't imagine how you can deal with that for hours on end.  Good luck to you on that

[Scaly Freak]

8 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Since I'm being paid to sit and think, more or less, I would like to come up with some things that I can do (that I'm not likely to get in trouble for) that will take advantage of this enforced thinking time but require minimal writing or materials (must be easily concealed in a pocket). Like planning out the backup system for my computers. Lists of some kind. Planning and brainstorming basically. If anyone has any ideas for my imagination vacations, I'm all ears.

 

Personally, in this situation I would plan and ponder various cooking projects. Or think through and plot out various projects I am working on, including but not limited to reorganizing my books, figuring out which glass ware to keep vs which ones to donate, and so on.

[KB Girl]

I think I'd write fan fiction in my head x) 

[DoubleTrouble]

Gogogo!

Are wearing wireless headphones an option?

[juliebarkley]

12 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

This is so awesome, I love everything about it (especially the last bit  ). 

It's a good real-life lesson that I didn't have to teach.

 

12 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

I don't have anything.  Trying to fill my brain without external stimulation of some kids seems nearly impossible, I can't imagine how you can deal with that for hours on end.  Good luck to you on that

I can lose myself pretty easily. I just can't remember very much afterwards. It's like dreaming, but awake.

 

8 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

Personally, in this situation I would plan and ponder various cooking projects. Or think through and plot out various projects I am working on, including but not limited to reorganizing my books, figuring out which glass ware to keep vs which ones to donate, and so on.

Just so. I need to figure out what needs planning that hasn't already been planned. Trouble is, I tend to plan rather than do, so oftentimes the planning has already been done.

 

3 hours ago, KB Girl said:

I think I'd write fan fiction in my head x) 

Got to be careful about that - I basically dreamed the plot of a horror movie last night. My wandering tend more towards the philosophical than the fictional most of the time.

 

2 hours ago, DoubleTrouble said:

Gogogo!

Are wearing wireless headphones an option?

Not if anyone knew about it. However, I wear a headscarf at work, which is ... very convenient ... for concealing headphones. And I have a large backlog of downloaded podcasts to listen to. Hmmm......

[juliebarkley]

You know how I was going to do things after food yesterday? Nothing happened after food yesterday. Immediately after finishing eating, I was desperately tired, so I went to bed.

 

1. Stick to my schedule.

Haven't followed it very well at all, but will get done most of the things I had planned, so I guess it worked out okay. I am planning to do my Duo for the first time in ages as a workout cooldown activity.

 

2. Fitness goals.

Regular exercises are a little delayed, but will be happening right after this post.

I attempted both scapular pullups and rows today. The pullups I believe I am doing right, but with the rows, I could not seem to find a position where retracting the scapula was a thing that seemed biomechanically possible. If anything, they were starting farther apart than normal. Perhaps I hang wrong. Anyway, for today at least I replaced those with another exercise I found. I don't know what it's called, but you lie on the ground in a T shape, lift arms, put them down in an I shape (not sure if above head or at sides; I did sides), lift again, then back to the T.

I also did some precision jumping on my walk. Today I did very short dashes and tried to land on a target with the ball of my foot (or feet, for the two-footed landings). I was pretty accurate with my two-foot and left foot landings, but coming up a little short on my right foot landings. I assume this is due to the lesser launching power of my left leg versus my right.

 

3. Clearing-out goals.

Teeny bit on the inbox while I watched a webinar. Might do more after Duo.

 

4. Make Christmas/"winter holiday" presents.

I made the first one. I'm not sure if the thread is too chunky, but I think the size is good (12cm roundabouts). What do you think? Would you be happy to receive this as a coworker gift?

https://imgur.com/a/gJ5Sxiu

 

5. Post on someone else's challenge every day.

Yes, done.

 

ETA: I see that I have a mystery follower. Welcome, mystery person! I don't bite, I promise.

[WhiteGhost]

3 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Would you be happy to receive this as a coworker gift?

I think it looks great.  I would be pleased as punch to get one of those

[Scaly Freak]

10 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

I made the first one. I'm not sure if the thread is too chunky, but I think the size is good (12cm roundabouts). What do you think? Would you be happy to receive this as a coworker gift?

 

 

Yes! It's beautiful.  

[Jupiter]

16 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

4. Make Christmas/"winter holiday" presents.

I made the first one. I'm not sure if the thread is too chunky, but I think the size is good (12cm roundabouts). What do you think? Would you be happy to receive this as a coworker gift?

https://imgur.com/a/gJ5Sxiu

 

Yeah, it looks great!  

[juliebarkley]

15 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

I think it looks great.  I would be pleased as punch to get one of those

7 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

Yes! It's beautiful.  

2 hours ago, Jupiter said:

Yeah, it looks great!  

 

Thank you for your votes of confidence! I shall stay the course with these.

[juliebarkley]

1. Stick to my schedule.

My order came in, so I pretty much chucked my schedule to give me time to try things on, take pictures/notes, etc (today is a late home, early to work day). I'll still get a little bit of other things done.

 

2. Fitness goals.

Yeah no, nothing today.

 

3. Clearing-out goals.

Probably I will work on my inbox for a bit. I should probably eat first though - one small meal today when I have a full day of work tomorrow is not ideal. Hopefully I will not immediately be exhausted again.

 

4. Make Christmas/"winter holiday" presents.

I have... loaded my shuttle? It will be between this and my inbox.

 

5. Post on someone else's challenge every day.

This one I did.

 

Looked into wireless headphones. Damn, they are expensive - a lot of them cost more than I paid for my phone in the first place, and it doesn't seem like the kind of item that would have much of a second-hand market. I'm scared to pay that much when I have had such terrible experience with earbuds in the past. Granted, they were cheap ones like the kind they give out on planes, but the pain! Oh, the pain.

 

My work colleagues have gotten in the Halloween spirit with a pretty neat pumpkin display (I did not contribute). I don't know how intense they go on costumes, so I will probably just amp up the gothy/witchy leanings of my usual wardrobe tomorrow and call it good. I'll have an apron over it anyway, so maybe I won't even bother with that (except maybe to make myself happy). I will be only half-human on waking (early morning), so unless I plan tonight there will be nothing.

 

Happy Halloween!

[Jupiter]

2 minutes ago, juliebarkley said:

My work colleagues have gotten in the Halloween spirit with a pretty neat pumpkin display (I did not contribute).

 

Wow, they all look so neat! 

[juliebarkley]

18 minutes ago, Jupiter said:

Wow, they all look so neat! 

Hoot Owl is my favourite. Simple, but effective.

[Scaly Freak]

3 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Looked into wireless headphones. Damn, they are expensive - a lot of them cost more than I paid for my phone in the first place, and it doesn't seem like the kind of item that would have much of a second-hand market. I'm scared to pay that much when I have had such terrible experience with earbuds in the past. 

 

For recording? There isn't much of a second-hand market for any kind of electronics, but returned and refurbished often costs less. And "returned and refurbished" more often than not means "it was opened and it was never used but now it's back and if we can't sell it at all it's a total loss".  Worth exploring if you're on a budget, just be aware refurbished electronics more often than not have weasel-speak garbage where there should have been a warranty.

 

2 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Hoot Owl is my favourite. Simple, but effective.

 

I liked Smile best, I think. Smile looks so happy.

[juliebarkley]

27 minutes ago, Scaly Freak said:

For recording?

For secreting under my scarf to listen to things at work if I go that route. I have headphones for recording/editing, and I have no need for wireless there. There's a pretty robust market for second-hand phones, computers, and other small electronics, but I would imagine wireless earbuds/headphones are prone to having one piece lost or broken.

 

28 minutes ago, Scaly Freak said:

I liked Smile best, I think. Smile looks so happy.

Also a good choice. She only showed up today.