[NightWatcher13]

Ok, need to work on posting here as one of my goals methinks. 

 

Updates from last challenge :

a) I did not get the job, there were 2 spaces available and 3 candidates who were selected as good fits - I was candidate number 3. Will try again if another opportunity arises, but probably won't post about it here unless it pans out.

b) I started working with QueerGym to help with accountability a couple of months ago. It's expensive as heck, but pairs you with a coach who will hold your feet to the coals when you need it - which I most definitely have needed at times. With their help, my meal prepping is doing great most weeks and I'm getting a minimum of 3 workouts with their trainers per week, which are definitely starting to show some results - I know my posture is getting better, and I am starting to feel stronger and less stiff.

c) I had an MRI last week to investigate a weird incident that happened earlier this year. Health stuff in the spoiler:

Spoiler

Turns out on the MRI, I have an "old appearing minor infarct in the left cerebellum" - meaning at some point in my life, I had a minor stroke. When the doctor called to follow up and let me know what the results were, I asked how old we were talking - he said could be anything from a few months old to early in life. Meaning it isn't necessarily linked to the vertigo/vision issue earlier this year (and wouldn't actually be related to the vision part regardless based on location), but with the fact that I've had minor vertigo acting up since the incident it's not unlikely that they're related. Thankfully it's not impacting me much, just very minor dizziness when I stop walking suddenly, but I'm not looking forward to telling my chiro about it since he'll blame himself, or my mom because she'll freak out about the fact that one of her kids had something like that happen to her.

 

I'll be keeping the goals here fairly simple - 

 

Goal 1 : workout 3x/week (scheduling with QG)

Goal 2 : plan meals ahead on the weekends (Mealime helps with this a lot btw)

Goal 3 : remember to post on here min 2x/week

[KB Girl]

Bummer about the job, hope it pans out next time! 

Anything they can do about the vertigo now that they know what's causing it? 

[NightWatcher13]

On 10/24/2022 at 4:43 PM, KB Girl said:

Bummer about the job, hope it pans out next time! 

Anything they can do about the vertigo now that they know what's causing it? 

Right? Here's hoping. It sounds like it would be a great fit and vice versa, but all I can do on that front is hope at the moment.

 

For the vertigo, the doc is getting me scheduled with a neurologist to do some deeper investigation on that, since that's outside his specialty. He said it might take a few months to get me in though. Before that, he's got me scheduled for an echo to screen some potential issues there and make sure that I don't have an underlying cause for concern there. That's all that he can do at the moment though I think, so might be a while before I get more info on that front. 

[NightWatcher13]

Week 1 checkin:

Goal 1 - had a kickboxing class Tuesday, upper body workout Thursday, then a squats/lower body workout Saturday and Yoga Sunday. 4/3 workouts for week 1

Goal 2 - This was a bigger struggle last week; I wound up grabbing some convenient options at Aldi midweek (microwave soups and frozen dinners) but still also hit drive throughs more than I wanted to.  (this is more on track this week, thankfully)

Goal 3 - Did manage to post 2 times during the first week, counting the initial post. 2/2

 

[NightWatcher13]

Week 2 so far - had weights class yesterday morning, then kickboxing today. I'm signed up for upper body Thursday, then 2 classes this weekend.

I had more brain power available this past weekend for grocery and meal prepping, so got the ingredients for 4 mealime recipes and got the first one made Sunday night (thai mushroom and chicken soup, not bad). I have that and some ravioli I got last week in the convenience food options ready to pack for lunches today and tomorrow. I think I'll try to get another one prepped tonight if I don't get held over at work to give me more options ready to go, I think I'll be working 12's tomorrow and Thursday so won't be up to making food those days. 

[Jupiter]

Following! Sounds like the next few days are going to be rough, I hope they go by fast for you. 

[NightWatcher13]

On 11/2/2022 at 12:28 AM, Jupiter said:

Following! Sounds like the next few days are going to be rough, I hope they go by fast for you. 

They did thankfully; I wound up working 12's Wednesday through Friday but had managed to prep just enough meals ahead to be able to pack 2 meals/shift for all 3 days. Did mean I had a mountain of dishes to catch up on today though ^^;

[NightWatcher13]

Week 2 tally:

Goal 1 : did 5 workous, 3/3 with 2 extra

Goal 2 : had food prepped and ready to go

Goal 3 : posted twice in this thread, and got to visit a few others. 

 

Week 3 Tally:

Goal 1: got 3 workouts in, so 3/3 at least there

Goal 2 : I did an a+ job on the planning side of the meal prepping, it was the actual meal prepping that wasn't well done 😅 did manage to get some food prepped, but also had some serious mental exhaustion and didn't prep all of the food I was supposed to, so wound up getting more fast food/convenience meals than I really wanted.

Goal 3:

I completely forgot to get on here last week the entire week.

 

 

[NightWatcher13]

Week 4 so far:

Goal 1 : I've done 2 workouts so far, we have a "swole mate" challenge going on with QG right now so a coworker is doing workouts with me - and they convinced me to sign up for 1/day this week @.@ hopefully I survive this challenge

Goal 2 : After last week's groceries being a fiasco of uncooked mess, Sunday this week was absolute BEAST MODE (between workout class 11-12 and going to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at 7pm) - did some back pocket recipes, make the list for what I needed(including 2 whole chickens, which turns out could have been 1 but I have extra meat this week I guess) , got the groceries and cooked 2 full sets of food (chicken & roast potatoes/zucchini, noodles and beef), took the carcass of 1 roast chicken and some assorted veggie scraps and left them on slow cook in the instant pot to make bone broth while going to the movie, and made chicken noodle soup with half of the other chicken when I got home. so I made 12 meals of food (4/recipe) in one day. 

Goal 3 - stopped in here today to check in at least ^^; now to keep it up and remember to actually check in from time to time

[KB Girl]

Wow that is some serious cooking! Once bone broth gets involved, whoo.

 

[NightWatcher13]

On 11/16/2022 at 4:51 PM, KB Girl said:

Wow that is some serious cooking! Once bone broth gets involved, whoo.

 

Yeah, it was ridiculously good. I got a whole chicken to make it again this week  

 

 

[NightWatcher13]

Week 4 tally:

Goal 1: worked out every day thanks largely to Z. Probably a bit overkill, but didn't feel too terrible after it, just a bit sore/stiff.

Goal 2:  had those 12 meals ready to go, and didn't feel the need to hit drive thrus or anything really all week - think I got a couple of drinks at work for caffeine, but that's about it.

Goal 3 : Checked in early in the week, but didn't remember to come back in to check in. 1/2

 

overall goal wise, only missed out on 1 check in and did fantastic in the exercise/food area, but something else also happened during the week: on Thursday, I got a call. Called the number back before workout time, and it was someone from the company I'd applied with - with an offer!!! I start on the 5th, so I've been extremely stoked about that for the last week and change now.

 

Week 5 tally:

Goal 1: Had workouts with the gym on Monday and Tuesday, but due to holiday travel and the coaches also needing a holiday I didn't have any other classes until today, so 3 total there and 2 yoga classes with Adrienne on YouTube while I was down in Tennessee visiting family.

Goal 2: Food was a bit odd to plan around, since I was only actually home monday, tuesday and today - wednesday through yesterday were all travel or holiday food, which my older brother-in-law did all the cooking for (with some help from my sister, but he's kinda got a military precision to his holiday prep) and was fantastic. Mom and i went to grab groceries for the next few days today.

Goal 3 : I guess technically I posted earlier today and again now? 

[Jupiter]

5 hours ago, NightWatcher13 said:

overall goal wise, only missed out on 1 check in and did fantastic in the exercise/food area, but something else also happened during the week: on Thursday, I got a call. Called the number back before workout time, and it was someone from the company I'd applied with - with an offer!!! I start on the 5th, so I've been extremely stoked about that for the last week and change now.

 

Yaaaay, that's awesome, congrats!!! 

[KB Girl]

21 hours ago, NightWatcher13 said:

overall goal wise, only missed out on 1 check in and did fantastic in the exercise/food area, but something else also happened during the week: on Thursday, I got a call. Called the number back before workout time, and it was someone from the company I'd applied with - with an offer!!! I start on the 5th, so I've been extremely stoked about that for the last week and change now.

 

Congratulations! That's great news  

[NightWatcher13]

On 11/27/2022 at 11:21 PM, Jupiter said:

 

Yaaaay, that's awesome, congrats!!! 

 

On 11/28/2022 at 2:53 PM, KB Girl said:

Congratulations! That's great news  

Thanks!! It's been a chaotic couple of weeks, but also super awesome

Told my team I was leaving last week (had to wait until I signed paperwork in case something didn't go through), got well wishes from the whole team of folks I work with but did it late enough that I didn't have to deal with the management team being... themselves. (My "termination" letter did show up yesterday,  with the envelope entirely unsealed 🤣 unsurprising but mildly amusing)

 

After that, had a con I'd promised to go to this past weekend - to help my oldest friend promote his new book. So that took ALL of my energy and time Friday through Sunday. But it was a lot of fun, we didn't get as many sales as he was hoping but I think he got what he needed out of the weekend - made connections, enough sales for a small profit, and got his name out there at least a little bit with cards and posters.

 

Got back from that Sunday night at about 9pm, grabbed some ready-to-go soups, salads and calzones from WM before showering and crashing to get up early yesterday - honestly, even having had so much chaos over the weekend and a ton of stress the last few weeks (mix of good and bad stress), both of the last two days I've actually woken up fairly easily - I'm crediting my current exercise levels with making it possible for me to do that, earlier this year even that was way harder on my body than it seems to be currently.

 

There was a lot more that happened the last couple of weeks (including some ^$#& stealing my bike), but overall things are going pretty well and I'm happy with the direction things are going. I've only had 2 days at the new job so far, and all orientation stuff so I can't speak to how I'll like the work flow (although it seems like a bumped-up version of the job I last winter with better work-life balance), but I like the culture a lot more based on what I've seen and heard, and the raise is nothing to sneeze at either.

[Jupiter]

On 12/6/2022 at 6:40 PM, NightWatcher13 said:

There was a lot more that happened the last couple of weeks (including some ^$#& stealing my bike), but overall things are going pretty well and I'm happy with the direction things are going. I've only had 2 days at the new job so far, and all orientation stuff so I can't speak to how I'll like the work flow (although it seems like a bumped-up version of the job I last winter with better work-life balance), but I like the culture a lot more based on what I've seen and heard, and the raise is nothing to sneeze at either.

 

I'm glad that the new job is going well so far! I'm sorry about the bike though.  

[KB Girl]

On 12/7/2022 at 2:40 AM, NightWatcher13 said:

both of the last two days I've actually woken up fairly easily - I'm crediting my current exercise levels with making it possible for me to do that, earlier this year even that was way harder on my body than it seems to be currently.

And isn't that awesome

Glad the new job is looking so good! but yea.. sorry about the bike.. 

[NightWatcher13]

On 12/9/2022 at 3:49 PM, KB Girl said:

And isn't that awesome

Glad the new job is looking so good! but yea.. sorry about the bike.. 

Yeah, the bike thing definitely sucks 😕 I think I'll look into a collapsible one of some sort that I can keep inside the apartment  this spring so I don't have to worry about it disappearing on me.

 

The job is going swimmingly so far though! The culture in the lab is fantastic, the pay is honestly ridiculous, and I feel like I'm learning what they want me to learn faster than they were expecting me to pick it up based on feedback from my labmates