[Jupiter]

Hey, nerds, I'm back for a new challenge after missing a few. Life was just a lot the last few months and I had to step away from the forums for a bit. Anyway, giving this challenge a go, the aim being to hang out with you guys and be more present here, and get done whatever I'm able to get done.  I have some things on my list (keep doing workouts, work on my novel outline and cook more) but beyond that, right now I will be happy with whatever I'm able to do. Happy challenge, nerds.  

[Jupiter]

Work today was thankfully drama free. Few people bothered me, and I managed to get all my work done before I had to leave for a doctor's appointment. Now that we're slower I can actually go to all the appointments that I've missed the last few years, so I've been slowly knocking those out. Anyway, after the doctor's appointment I did around 30 minutes of yard work and wrote a little bit. I meant to work on my outline too, I was all geared up and ready to go earlier, but by the end of the day, opening the document just felt like too much effort. So, I fiddled with a new piece for a few minutes instead. I am still going with counting calories, too. I find it interesting that even though I skipped lunch today, I still ended up eating around 1900 calories. A good chunk of it seems to be liquid calories, so I need to find a way to start cutting down on those. 

 

Also, is anyone reading "The Other Half of the Grave"? It is sooooo good. 

[Waanie]

Happy challenge, I'm glad you're here .

 

4 hours ago, Jupiter said:

Also, is anyone reading "The Other Half of the Grave"? It is sooooo good. 

Is it stand-alone, or can you read if you've read the first few books in the past? Or do you need to have read the rest of the series as well? I remember enjoying reading the series in the past, so I might pick it up .

[Defining]

17 hours ago, Jupiter said:

(keep doing workouts, work on my novel outline and cook more)

[WhiteGhost]

I was going to apologize for getting here late but then noticed that I am here within 24 hours of the challenge getting posted so I guess I am right on time  

[Jupiter]

On 5/18/2022 at 12:15 AM, Waanie said:

Happy challenge, I'm glad you're here .

 

Thanks!  

 

On 5/18/2022 at 12:15 AM, Waanie said:

Is it stand-alone, or can you read if you've read the first few books in the past? Or do you need to have read the rest of the series as well? I remember enjoying reading the series in the past, so I might pick it up .

 

It's the first book retold from Bones' perspective, so as long as you've read the first book, you're good.  

 

On 5/18/2022 at 12:57 PM, Defining said:

 

 

LOL.  

 

23 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

I was going to apologize for getting here late but then noticed that I am here within 24 hours of the challenge getting posted so I guess I am right on time  

 

LOL you're exactly on time.  

[Jupiter]

Yesterday I was tired and kept procrastinating, so I didn't end up doing anything. I wrote a little bit before bed but that's it. Today was better. I attended a virtual class this afternoon, so I didn't end up doing yard work, and I also had a headache, which didn't help, but I wanted to make sure I did something, so I did some squats, wall pushups, lunges, and jumping jacks. Which also didn't help my headache, but I did it anyway, LOL. It was easier than going out in the 100 degree weather to pull weeds. Also worked for an hour on my outline and fleshed out this plot point I've been fiddling with. Also tracked my food/counted calories for the day, and while I'm still over, I actually managed to hit my protein goal for the day. So, overall, a good day today. My work meeting was also apparently not today, but will be on Monday, so even better. And now I am worn out, LOL, so I think I will go read my book. 

[Scaly Freak]

Joining the headbanger gif parade

 

 

6 minutes ago, Jupiter said:

My work meeting was also apparently not today, but will be on Monday, so even better. And now I am worn out, LOL, so I think I will go read my book. 

 

I shall continue to send positive energy vibes until Monday then.  

[Jupiter]

On 5/19/2022 at 8:08 PM, Scaly Freak said:

Joining the headbanger gif parade

 

 

 

On 5/19/2022 at 8:08 PM, Scaly Freak said:

I shall continue to send positive energy vibes until Monday then.  

 

Thanks, I appreciate it.  

[Jupiter]

Welp, the weekend kind of sucked. I ended up binge watching Outlander and not doing anything else. I think binge watching is not good for my mental health. It's weird. It helps me to escape life when I need it, but at the same time, the more I do it, the crappier I feel. I also don't think I should watch Outlander anymore, either. I love the romance storyline, but I'm only about halfway through season two and the violence (like, every type of violence) is just constant and gratuitous, and I'm done with it. 

 

Okay, work rant, feel free to skip:

 

Spoiler

You know what? Today sucked, too. My meeting with my managers was awful. I was not let go, thankfully. But I had to sit there and listen while the head manager talked and speechified at me, and I didn't even get to say a word. The speech was basically the same: I'm not positive enough (seriously, the more I hear "you need to be positive!", the worse I feel). I need to be more chipper and use smiley faces. All the smiley faces. And I should be using my creative writing skills apparently. Never mind the fact that business/email writing and creative writing are two very different things, but sure, why not.  

 

Let's see, what else? Oh, I need to now drop everything I'm doing the second someone asks and attend to their every need. Because I don't have multiple people demanding my time at the same time all the time, but apparently, I'm not allowed to ask them to wait anymore. No, I have to drop everything every single time, which is the one thing I hate the most. And she gave me a verbal warning because I was a few minutes late to a few team meetings, because I was, you know, working. According to her I don't manage my time well enough, though I can't see how I will be able to manage my time any better when I can't finish any of my files because I'm too busy flitting from one thing to another based on everyone else's whim. 

 

So yeah. Longest 20 minutes ever. 

 

[Jupiter]

Last night was not great. I kept running the meeting through my head over and over, even though I know better than to do that, and I barely slept. In the morning I was very, very tired and not in the best of moods. Luckily no one bothered me and I was able to work with relative peace and quiet, and after a little bit my bad mood left and I was fine.  Anyway, goals-wise, yesterday I worked a bit on my outline and cooked breakfast for dinner-- scrambled eggs and toast with some apple slices, nothing fancy. Today I worked a few minutes on the outline and walked around the house for a few minutes. I wanted to try to cook something for dinner but the new yard guys showed up late and I had to talk to them, so that had to go on the back burner. I ended up just snacking for dinner instead.  

[Waanie]

On 5/24/2022 at 7:49 AM, Jupiter said:

I need to be more chipper and use smiley faces. All the smiley faces.

My newspaper has a piece with "everyday sexism", just one sentence about every other day. This would fit there so hard! Why are we expected to smile so much? Anyway, I'm sorry that your workplace expects unreasonable things from you.

 

6 hours ago, Jupiter said:

I worked a bit on my outline and cooked breakfast for dinner-- scrambled eggs and toast with some apple slices, nothing fancy.

Small wins are still wins, especially when life's hard. Also, I'm of the strong opinion that food doesn't have to be fancy, as long as it is reasonably healthy .

[Scaly Freak]

17 hours ago, Waanie said:

My newspaper has a piece with "everyday sexism", just one sentence about every other day. This would fit there so hard! Why are we expected to smile so much?

 

Yet another reason to still wear a mask in public  

[Jupiter]

16 hours ago, Waanie said:

My newspaper has a piece with "everyday sexism", just one sentence about every other day. This would fit there so hard! Why are we expected to smile so much? Anyway, I'm sorry that your workplace expects unreasonable things from you.

 

Yeah, I don't know, the whole thing's so frustrating. Thanks. 

 

16 hours ago, Waanie said:

Small wins are still wins, especially when life's hard. Also, I'm of the strong opinion that food doesn't have to be fancy, as long as it is reasonably healthy .

 

Thanks.  

 

2 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

 

Yet another reason to till wear a mask in public  

 

True.  

[Jupiter]

Well, today was a day. My dog pooped on my floor this morning, I was berated again for doing everything wrong at work, and the yard guys (who only did half the work yesterday and said they would be back today) showed up, looked around, and left without doing anything. I had to get ahold of their boss to have them come back out again later in the afternoon, except they didn't show up, so now they are coming back out tomorrow. I barely did anything goals-wise. I cooked some grilled cheese for dinner and had an apple with it, I worked on my outline for barely thirty minutes, and I walked around for a few minutes and did some wall squats. 

[ReturnOfTheDad]

That is an epic amount of stuff to deal with, yet you still cooked, wrote and worked out. That’s some serious perseverance! 
 

So sorry to hear things were rough, hope things get better for you.

[juliebarkley]

20 hours ago, Jupiter said:

I barely did anything goals-wise. I cooked some grilled cheese for dinner and had an apple with it, I worked on my outline for barely thirty minutes, and I walked around for a few minutes and did some wall squats. 

Those were all of your goals, so how can you say you did "barely anything"? And you did them after a day when many people would throw in the towel and throw themselves into something escapist. Be proud of yourself.

[Scaly Freak]

3 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Those were all of your goals, so how can you say you did "barely anything"? And you did them after a day when many people would throw in the towel and throw themselves into something escapist. Be proud of yourself.

 

I was just about to post this.  

[Jupiter]

11 hours ago, ReturnOfTheDad said:

That is an epic amount of stuff to deal with, yet you still cooked, wrote and worked out. That’s some serious perseverance! 
 

So sorry to hear things were rough, hope things get better for you.

 

LOL, I don't know that I did much persevering, but thanks.  And thanks, me too. 

 

4 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Those were all of your goals, so how can you say you did "barely anything"? And you did them after a day when many people would throw in the towel and throw themselves into something escapist. Be proud of yourself.

 

51 minutes ago, Scaly Freak said:

 

I was just about to post this.  

 

Thanks, guys.  I'm trying to be, but it's hard. I know I kept my goals fairly small, but I guess I'm just frustrated because I feel like I keep going through the same cycle over and over again and nothing ever really improves or changes. 

 

[Jupiter]

Spoiler

Things today were sort of better and sort of not. The yard guys showed up first thing this morning like they said they would and did the work, so that is finally done. One less thing to stress about, thankfully, at least for now. Also had another meeting with management where we discussed questions and next steps and extra training (again), and ultimatums were implied, which of course stressed me out to the point I stress-ate trail mix and chips most of the day and tried to stave off anxiety. I’m just so sick of this. I want to tell them how I’ve been struggling with some mental health issues and that’s what’s been affecting my performance (although really, I think they’re overreacting just a bit, but that’s just my opinion), but I feel like I can’t really talk to them. I don’t want to sound like I’m making excuses, but I also feel like they won’t care even if I do tell them and that the outcome won't change either way. They’re very much of the mindset that we should be their happy, dementedly chipper little minions no matter what and that we shouldn’t be affected by anything. Like I’m supposed to be a robot or something. Or at least that's the way they come across to me. 

 

Anyway, I am out of clean dishware, and I felt a bit sick after not eating anything of substance all day, so no cooking today but I did work on my outline for an hour-ish, and played some beat saber for a few minutes. I think I need to quit the wall squats, because they are not feeling awesome right now. 

[juliebarkley]

27 minutes ago, Jupiter said:

I felt a bit sick after not eating anything of substance all day, so no cooking today

Been there. But did you eat?

[Waanie]

I'm feeling for you!

 

Wall sits are evil, and there's plenty other exercises for those muscles .

[Jupiter]

21 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Been there. But did you eat?

 

Yeah, I grabbed some takeout after work. 

 

17 hours ago, Waanie said:

I'm feeling for you!

 

Wall sits are evil, and there's plenty other exercises for those muscles .

 

Thanks. And yeah, I'm beginning to see that LOL. Will definitely need to find a different exercise. 

[Scaly Freak]

14 hours ago, Jupiter said:

Thanks. And yeah, I'm beginning to see that LOL. Will definitely need to find a different exercise. 

 

I vote for squats.

[Waanie]

44 minutes ago, Scaly Freak said:

I vote for squats.

Seconded! Although I was also thinking of reverse lunges, but that might be because I'm one of the few people who actually likes lunges .