Mistr returns to reality

[Mistr]

Mistr returns to reality

Thanks to @sarakingdom for the inspiration for this challenge.

 

I spent the last week of the previous challenge on a cruise ship visiting coastal Alaska. It was stunningly gorgeous, and far, far away from my normal reality. Having a week where I had no responsibilities was very strange. On port days I went on hikes and went shopping with my mom. On sea days we went to talks by the naturalist and the port historian and read books. No cooking or cleaning. The last time I had a week with no responsibilities was fall 2019, when I did a week-long retreat (sesshin) at a zen monastery.

 

My earlier vacations this year were to my family's cabin. That is a lovely break from normal routine, but we still have to do cooking and cleaning. There is always some project that needs to get done while we are there. It felt very strange not to have a to-do list on the cruise.

 

I missed my normal life a lot. That said, my approach to normal life could use some improvement.

 

Goals:

1. Implement new exercise plan. I just met with my physical therapist and am done with the latest round of PT. She recommended that I keep doing side-steps with a resistance band, leg-lift alphabet writing and foam rolling. My left hip is still not as strong as the right and my IT bands are super tight.

 

I was doing some PT exercises, some yoga and some hiking while I was on vacation. Strength and cardio have been lacking. Now I need to come up with a good all-around plan that will get me back in shape. I would like to get back to doing aikido twice a week. I may talk to the personal trainer at work if I get stuck.

 

2. Keep doing zen. It makes a big difference in my ability to put up with annoying stuff and make good decisions.

 

3. Do creative projects. These give me a sense of accomplishment and progress. I selected the "Practice Creativity 101" mission on the NF app to remind me to do this. I did this once before and it helped.

 

4. Get on top of my &^%$#(@! finances and stay there. I used to be on top of things. I've been sticking my head in the sand for the last year. I may find that the crawling feeling of dread I have is justified, but I will be able to do something to fix it. I have to get delayed tax info to my accountant by the 15th. That will be the first step.

 

5. Flexibility in household tasks. Concentrate on doing the things that I care about. I can let everything else go unless I get a specific request from Dumbledore or Elf.

 

 

 

[Kishi]

Ah, that cruise sounds great! Really glad to hear you were able to go.

 

1 hour ago, Mistr said:

1. Implement new exercise plan. I just met with my physical therapist and am done with the latest round of PT. She recommended that I keep doing side-steps with a resistance band, leg-lift alphabet writing and foam rolling. My left hip is still not as strong as the right and my IT bands are super tight.

 

I was doing some PT exercises, some yoga and some hiking while I was on vacation. Strength and cardio have been lacking. Now I need to come up with a good all-around plan that will get me back in shape. I would like to get back to doing aikido twice a week. I may talk to the personal trainer at work if I get stuck.

 

FWIW, I'd recommend getting back to Aikido first if you can. I don't know what your situation is like, given COVID and the training restrictions that entails, but if it's a possibility, it should probably be the center of whatever it is your training regimen winds up being.

 

1 hour ago, Mistr said:

5. Flexibility in household tasks. Concentrate on doing the things that I care about. I can let everything else go unless I get a specific request from Dumbledore or Elf.

 

This x 1000.

[Mistr]

Family update:

 

I got back from vacation to find that most things looked exactly like when I left. Dumbledore made a point of doing dishes before I got home. The drainer was full of clean dishes, but the salad strainer was still sitting next to the sink waiting to be washed from before I left. On Monday we went through the fridge to get rid of iffy food. Everything I cooked two weeks ago was still there. Some was still okay and some had gone fuzzy. Dumbledore said that Elf did a bunch of cooking. It looks like they ate that food and did their best to clean up those dishes. Any other cleaning that happened was hidden in the general entropy level of the house.

 

What this tells me is that we are all mostly on our own for food right now. Dumbledore is not cooking at all except for baking cookies. Elf and I cook and sometimes other people will help eat what we make. I can plan on cooking so that I have food I like for meals. If other people eat it too, that is a bonus. I don't need to consult about what anyone else wants to eat. that's a relief

 

Cleaning is on a similar level. Dumbledore and I take turns doing laundry. Elf and Dumbledore will wash dishes some of the time. I expect that Elf will pick up some of the cleaning as they start feeling better. They went from overdoing it working 80 hours a week to quitting that insane job and going through a medication change that makes them nauseated and have trouble sleeping. They spend last week in a zombie-like stupor. Things should improve as the new meds start working. I did a bunch of cleaning last weekend so that I felt comfortable using both bathrooms.

 

I feel good about this approach for now. I hope that we can get back to shared responsibility sometime in the future. I can live with a free range system for this challenge.

[Harriet]

7 hours ago, Mistr said:

The drainer was full of clean dishes, but the salad strainer was still sitting next to the sink waiting to be washed from before I left. On Monday we went through the fridge to get rid of iffy food. Everything I cooked two weeks ago was still there. Some was still okay and some had gone fuzzy.

 

That's a little aggravating. But your free range approach sounds good. I'm glad you had a nice trip with no responsibilities and some lovely views!

 

[RES]

On 9/9/2021 at 5:51 PM, Mistr said:

I can live with a free range system

I love this terminology...glad you got to go on the cruse and sounds like a nice, relaxing, time was had. 

[sarakingdom]

I will help with your yardwork. And keeping your veggies fresh.

 

 

 

That is me helping.

[Mistr]

Progress report - Zero week

 

1. Implement new exercise plan. 

I decided to do the GMB Elements program again. I bought it several years ago and got partway through it twice. They have made substantial updates in the last couple years. So far I like the new program better. It has different stretches and spends more time on each one. I will supplement this with PT exercises, strength training and yoga.

 

I went to aikido weapons class on Friday. Yeesh, my weapons katas are rusty. My weapons partner is still in quarantine for a family COVID outbreak. I will see what we can do next week.

 

2. Keep doing zen. 

Done. I notice that when I am more consistent, it goes better. Go figure.  

 

3. Do creative projects.

I finished plying the first bobbin of purple merino, skeined it, washed it and reset my spinning wheel. I have the next 4 oz. of roving divided into three balls, ready to spin. 

 

4. Get on top of my &^%$#(@! finances and stay there.

I spent most of the weekend working on this. I have my tax info together. Dumbledore is working on getting his part of the information. I still have to reconcile one checking account, submit HSA reimbursements and do analysis of where we have been spending money. Partway up a large hill.

 

5. Flexibility in household tasks.

I (almost) finished my round of laundry. I just have one load to fold and put away. Other tasks were cleaning the upstairs toilet, scrubbing the top of the stove, sweeping the kitchen floor and washing dishes. Dumbledore washed a pile of dishes on Friday. We are very nearly caught up. I made chicken soup last night so that I would have food for breakfast this week. I used two chicken breasts that Elf cooked 1+ week ago and one of the jars of stock I made. Veggies were frozen, so it is not great soup. Healthy, but not a good flavor balance. I will buy more veggies at the store later this week.

 

I tasked both Elf and Dumbledore with thinking of things for us to eat. I also got Dumbledore to go through the kitchen freezer with me. That had all the partial bags of things we throw in to use later. He threw out a couple things and ate a lonely frozen burrito. He also repacked the freezer in a much more organized state. That might inspire some meal ideas.

 

I am not holding my breath about either of them cooking. I got the ingredients to make a casserole with cornbread, cabbage and ground meat (turkey this time), plus red peppers, corn and cheese. I hope they will eat some of it because the recipe makes a lot. I can always freeze part of it if I get tired of it.

 

 Tonight I am going to cook spaghetti squash (to go with the leftover marinara), spin and sit zen. Tomorrow night will be more work on finances. I'm planning on alternating sessions of finances and other things until that project is done. 

[Kishi]

4 hours ago, Mistr said:

I decided to do the GMB Elements program again. I bought it several years ago and got partway through it twice. They have made substantial updates in the last couple years. So far I like the new program better. It has different stretches and spends more time on each one. I will supplement this with PT exercises, strength training and yoga.

 

Like, for real, Elements is so good. I think the newest version really plays up the exploratory parts of movement and that it really invites a lot more out of the trainee than might have been before, and if you've been through it already, you can walk in with more things to do, I think. I also feel like it's a good way to get a good baseline assessment of what you can do at any given time.

[Mistr]

19 hours ago, Kishi said:

Like, for real, Elements is so good. I think the newest version really plays up the exploratory parts of movement and that it really invites a lot more out of the trainee than might have been before, and if you've been through it already, you can walk in with more things to do, I think. I also feel like it's a good way to get a good baseline assessment of what you can do at any given time.

 

I remember that I got frustrated with it the first time because I could not get into a deep squat position at all. That made the frogger and monkey exercises extremely difficult. I did a bunch of squat stretch and strengthening work after that. The second time it was doable. My main problem was that the sessions got too long to fit in my lunch break. I really appreciate that you can select a session length in the new version.

[Scaly Freak]

I am starting to feel like I really need to look into this GMB Elements program everyone is talking about....  

[Happienumber]

On 9/13/2021 at 5:57 PM, Mistr said:

I went to aikido weapons class on Friday

 

YAY! 

 

On 9/13/2021 at 5:57 PM, Mistr said:

I decided to do the GMB Elements program again. I bought it several years ago and got partway through it twice. They have made substantial updates in the last couple years. So far I like the new program better. It has different stretches and spends more time on each one.

 

I heard that they had a new update. I'm glad to hear you like it! I was wondering how it compared to the old one. 

 

 

[sarakingdom]

On 9/14/2021 at 5:03 PM, Mistr said:

My main problem was that the sessions got too long to fit in my lunch break. I really appreciate that you can select a session length in the new version.

 

This has always been my main issue with GMB programs, so it's nice to hear they're working on it. Let me know how it goes, I'm curious what the big wins in practice are.

[Mistr]

I will keep you all updated with my experience with Elements. That extra accountability will help.

 

I went to aikido last night for a regular class. Lots and lots of rolls. OMG, it is a workout.

 

In the Before times, I considered aikido class to be training rather than exercise. We stop too often for it to be cardio endurance. Now it feels like HIIT. Just falling down and getting up is work. Guys, it is not supposed to be work. I used to do back rolls all the time because they were easier on my knees than back falls. Now I have to think about where to put my feet when I am getting up.

 

The good part is that my body remembers doing falls so my brain does not freak out anymore. My front rolls are lumpy but I can do them. That means I need to just do a lot of them and they will get better. And work on TGUs and lunges on my off days to make that part easier. I was sore enough after an hour of practice last night that I think it would be prudent to stick to two regular classes a week, plus weapons work.

 

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

On the home front, Elf is recovering from the med changes and is helping with things around the house again. Yesterday they cleaned the toaster oven, which was on their to-do list for weeks. Then they felt like having pizza for dinner, so they made one from scratch. Half sausage and mushroom for me and Dumbledore, half pepperoni for them. ❤️ Today they made breadsticks with garlic and parmesan. Oh yeah, and a couple days ago they tried a new hard candy recipe. Something similar to Jolly Ranchers.

 

In addition to the cooking spree, Elf started applying for jobs again. Their first interview is tomorrow. I hope I can persuade them to be really picky this time.

 

Dumbledore has mostly been good. Yesterday I did something that triggered him. Elf and I could see it all day, but he didn't figure it out until late evening. Not fun. Therapy seems to be helping, so maybe these episodes will get less frequent. Dumbledore has been making an effort to walk for at least 20 minutes a day. He says he will be going back to the Y soon as well. He has not come up with any ideas for meals, at least not that he has told me. Elf had a good idea. I will go grocery shopping this weekend so they still have some time.

 

I slept in this morning so I still need to exercise, sit zen, cook and do more work on finances tonight. Just sending off receipts for HSA reimbursement, which is not scary.

[Happienumber]

13 minutes ago, Mistr said:

I used to do back rolls all the time because they were easier on my knees than back falls. Now I have to think about where to put my feet when I am getting up.

 

The good part is that my body remembers doing falls so my brain does not freak out anymore. My front rolls are lumpy but I can do them. That means I need to just do a lot of them and they will get better.

 

I'm certain this is going to come back quicker than it took to get it the first time. Just have to remind your body and brain of how it worked lol  

 

17 minutes ago, Mistr said:

In addition to the cooking spree, Elf started applying for jobs again. Their first interview is tomorrow. I hope I can persuade them to be really picky this time.

 

❤️

 

[sarakingdom]

5 hours ago, Mistr said:

In the Before times, I considered aikido class to be training rather than exercise. We stop too often for it to be cardio endurance. Now it feels like HIIT. Just falling down and getting up is work. Guys, it is not supposed to be work.

 

Stupid before times.

[Mistr]

18 hours ago, Mistr said:

I slept in this morning so I still need to exercise, sit zen, cook and do more work on finances tonight. Just sending off receipts for HSA reimbursement, which is not scary.

 

What I really did was spin, cook and sit zen. Fifteen minutes of spinning finished up the first third of my current braid of wool roving. I washed the yarn I made from the previous braid and it came out better than I expected. The fibers did relax and poof out, so the final size is reasonable for a sweater. I am enjoying doing a spinning project that has little prep work and is not stretching out for years. If I get this done this month, it will be the shortest time fiber has stayed in my stash in ages, maybe ever.

 

Cooking went well. I made brownies and a casserole. I melted the butter and chocolate at lunchtime, so it was quick to get them in the oven. The casserole was something I planned to have easy meals with protein, veggies and carbs. The base and topping are crumbled cornbread. The filling is cabbage, ground turkey, onions, garlic and sweet peppers with a chicken stock sauce. There is some cheese in the topping, but I couldn't really taste it. I like the color combination and I will eat it. Too soon to say if anyone else will eat it. The brownies, on the other hand, are already going fast.

 

I did 12 minutes of zen before going to bed. Just enough to get my brain to settle down some. I did a regular 30 minute sit this morning. That went much better. I thought of an analogy that helped. In aikido class we practice the same move over and over for a while. Each time I try to do what the instructor demonstrated. Usually I notice something is not quite right and I try to fix that the next time. Each time I try to make that movement smoother than before. To do that, I have to pay attention to what is happening right now. I can't be thinking about what went wrong before or what I'd rather be doing.

 

So I applied that approach to meditation. Each breath is its own thing. Each time I can focus on breathing smoothly, having good posture and relaxed muscles and open attention to what is all around me. If I get distracted, I come back to the next breath with full attention. It seemed to help. I'll have to see if it makes a difference over time.

 

Coming back to aikido after a break made me very aware of how much mental focus is required. That was hard the first several weeks. I can really see why zen training is recommended for martial artists. Those mental skills are at least as challenging as the physical skills.

[sarakingdom]

*steals your food and zen*

 

2 hours ago, Mistr said:

I did 12 minutes of zen before going to bed. Just enough to get my brain to settle down some. I did a regular 30 minute sit this morning. That went much better. I thought of an analogy that helped. In aikido class we practice the same move over and over for a while. Each time I try to do what the instructor demonstrated. Usually I notice something is not quite right and I try to fix that the next time. Each time I try to make that movement smoother than before. To do that, I have to pay attention to what is happening right now. I can't be thinking about what went wrong before or what I'd rather be doing.

 

So I applied that approach to meditation. Each breath is its own thing. Each time I can focus on breathing smoothly, having good posture and relaxed muscles and open attention to what is all around me. If I get distracted, I come back to the next breath with full attention. It seemed to help. I'll have to see if it makes a difference over time.

 

I've been trying to figure out how to adapt this to my daily chores. I think they would benefit from some deliberate practice. I just can't figure out a common set of actions to focus on and repeat.

[Mistr]

29 minutes ago, sarakingdom said:

I've been trying to figure out how to adapt this to my daily chores. I think they would benefit from some deliberate practice. I just can't figure out a common set of actions to focus on and repeat.

 

You should come here for a while on your nomadic journey. That would be the easiest way for you to get our cooking.

 

Here is what my teacher says about doing chores:

Zen in Daily Activity (and, brushing your teeth)

Zen snow shoveling

[sarakingdom]

9 minutes ago, Mistr said:

You should come here for a while on your nomadic journey. That would be the easiest way for you to get our cooking.

 

Don't tempt me. I'll take over your garden and set up a garage dojo with rolling mats.

[Mistr]

Just now, sarakingdom said:

Don't tempt me. I'll take over your garden and set up a garage dojo with rolling mats.

 

I can make gluten-free chocolate torte...  This weekend I am making the chocolate single-malt scotch torte from Fran's Pure Chocolate. It is not gluten-free, but I bet it could be.   

 

 

You are welcome to take over my garden. The garage - let's just say that the floor of the garage has a path you can climb through if you are limber. I would love to have help with that. 😁

 

In fact, there may be light coming to the garage tunnel. Hermes had more large totes delivered to our place earlier this week. He said that he is going to pack up his stuff in the garage and get a U-Haul to move the rest of his stuff out. He got a second storage locker. He thinks that if he stacks things well, he can move all his stuff from here and consolidate the things already in storage into one storage locker.

 

When this eventually happens, it will open up two squares in our 16-piece puzzle. One in the basement and one in the garage. I have plans, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Scaly Freak]

54 minutes ago, Mistr said:

chocolate single-malt scotch torte

 

[Mistr]

My weekend was good, but not as originally planned.

 

Exercise was one thing that stayed on plan. I went to aikido weapons class on Friday and regular class on Saturday. I could see improvement in my falls just from Wednesday to Saturday. I didn't have to think so hard about where to put my feet and shift my weight when getting up.  My front rolls are slightly less lumpy. Sensei got on me for my ukemi in iriminage, just like in the Before Times. The difference is that my knees feel better now so I might be able to do it right with some more practice.

 

Besides aikido, I did a long walk with a friend (bonus addition to the weekend), two short walks with Dumbledore and an Elements session. I am still on the fence about the skill progression part of Elements. This session worked on the bear walk. The prep for that is downward-facing dog (which they call "A-frame"). I am pretty comfortable with downward-facing dog from yoga. I can't get my heels on the floor, which goes along with not being able to touch my toes without bending my knees. Elements has a six minute session of downward-facing dog. Really?!?  They say to take breaks as you need to. I know it is helpful to hold a stretch for over a minute after warming up to it. But six minutes? I will see if it makes a difference over the next few sessions.

 

My big achievement was changing the desktop on my new laptop from Ubuntu to Xubuntu. My old laptop was running Xubuntu and I like it much better than Ubuntu. I read through a couple tutorials and did what they said. Now my new laptop behaves just like my old one but with a bigger screen, nicer keyboard and lots more memory. I was able to find a bunch of files that I had been looking for, like my backup of the old computer. I still have a lot of merging of duplicates to do, but at least I have everything.

 

After a bit of messing with USB cables, I got the computer to talk to my printer and scanned the medical receipts for HSA reimbursement. One financial task done. 🧐

 

I thought about making the chocolate torte yesterday and decided to postpone it. Elf started doing prep cooking in the early afternoon. I also wanted to use up some peaches and I had a box of puff pastry in the freezer, so I decided to make turnovers. There was not enough free time in the kitchen for me to cook something tricky. I did marinate and grill chicken breasts as my contribution to the batch cooking for the week.

 

On the "where did my time go?" question, I did the main grocery shopping on Saturday and went to the farmers market and the smaller grocery where I buy meat on Sunday. Planned, but not actually accounted for in my time management for the weekend. You would think I would know by now how long these things take, but it always surprises me. I added the time with my friend on Saturday and Elf had friends over on Sunday evening. I am still trying to get my brain weasels to accept that being sociable is a good reason to set aside other tasks.

 

I did sit zen a little right before bed each day. Once again I proved to myself that staying up late messes with my morning routine. I need to sit zen first thing on weekends or I put it off too long. I knew from the start that I didn't want to take 2.5 hours to go sit zen at the dojo. I will make a point of doing that next weekend. And practicing my chanting every day this week. The jikijitsu told me I would have to lead chanting next time. 😬

[Mistr]

Today  This week looks likely to be busy. Two people on my team were scheduled out, and two more called in with daycare closed because of COVID. Even if their kids are still healthy, it will be days before the daycare opens up again. If either kid caught it, that will add another week. I already have two people on vacation next week.  😰 

[Mistr]

Week thus far

 

Zen - good

Exercise - good. I did hip PT exercises today. Yesterday I did most of an Elements workout. It had too much time in a deep squat position. I can get in and out of a deep squat, but hanging out there puts too much pressure on my knees. Two of the four main movement exercises in the program are based on a deep squat position. Frustrating. Hopefully also good for me. Only time will tell.

 

Chores - vacuumed the family room. All that time doing floor work let me see just how gritty it was getting. Cleaned both toilets. In theory Dumbledore is responsible for these, but my tolerance is lower than his.

Elf did the dishes yesterday morning, before I had time. Elf also cleaned up the entertaining mess on the porch without being asked. That makes up for them using all the gas in the car and not warning me about it.

Dumbledore took out the trash and is doing the laundry. He said he wanted to vacuum the upstairs but has not gotten to that yet. I feel like our entropy level is holding okay.

 

In more exciting news, Hermes came over last night with his girlfriend and packed most of his stuff in the garage. I haven't checked yet to see if he finished packing his old bedroom. He might have done that on Monday. He said will get a truck the weekend after next and move all his stuff. I said I could help. If that happens, I might prime the room that weekend. It is currently deep green. I like the color, but it is too dark for an office or studio. Or I could just get a pale color of paint with the expectation that the green will show through. I know Dumbledore wants to use that space to deal with the overflow from the game room. If I don't paint it now, it will be much more difficult later.

 

Creative projects have been dormant while I have been reading a novel. Air Logic by Laurie Marks is the last novel in a series that I enjoy a lot. It came out a couple years ago but I missed that. I found a copy in August and just picked it up. I will have to show great restraint to go to aikido tonight instead of finishing it. Chocolate torte may happen at lunch today. I had to go buy more chocolate yesterday and did not have time for the whole project (because I was reading). 

[Kishi]

On 9/20/2021 at 10:37 AM, Mistr said:

Besides aikido, I did a long walk with a friend (bonus addition to the weekend), two short walks with Dumbledore and an Elements session. I am still on the fence about the skill progression part of Elements. This session worked on the bear walk. The prep for that is downward-facing dog (which they call "A-frame"). I am pretty comfortable with downward-facing dog from yoga. I can't get my heels on the floor, which goes along with not being able to touch my toes without bending my knees. Elements has a six minute session of downward-facing dog. Really?!?  They say to take breaks as you need to. I know it is helpful to hold a stretch for over a minute after warming up to it. But six minutes? I will see if it makes a difference over the next few sessions.

 

I absolutely respect this feeling, as someone who felt the same way at the start. It will not last. I promise.