[Mad Hatter]

Ooh your BigBad goals are so exciting! Super cool!

[Gemma]

On 1/2/2023 at 11:47 AM, Everstorm said:

Inertia 

On 1/2/2023 at 1:00 PM, Harriet said:

 

Heavy temporal discounting plus an overvaluation of energy conservation for evolutionary reasons? Or possibly an abundance of low effort supernormal rewards in our environment that downregulate our reward circuits, making ordinary work/reward ratios underpowered when it comes to overruling the default inhibition of action?

On 1/2/2023 at 1:53 PM, Scaly Freak said:

Procrastination Demon

On 1/4/2023 at 4:21 PM, Kishi said:

as a species we're pretty prone to expedience.

 

it goes a long way to explaining why starting new things is hard, and why training has to be made psychologically easy in order for it to do us any long term good.

 

Alas, all of the above. And whole shelves of self-help books, thousands of megabytes of blog posts, and more than half of the challenges we create for ourselves are dedicated to circumventing or mediating the impacts of ... all of the above. And yet I still forget, so very often ... 

 

On 1/4/2023 at 11:23 AM, Alanna said:

 

I will also be interested to hear how you like Literal Immortality and if it helps with/is compatible with hypermobility issues. 

 

I am really enjoying it so far, but I wouldn't want to do it as a sole workout. There is very little muscular strength work - a lot of focus on tendons and joint strength and stability, though. Ex. - today included something called "Grip Pendulums." Name notwithstanding, it was nothing to do with grip - it's just kind of ... bend over like you are going to do a one-armed row, hold the weight, and let your arm swing back and forth from the shoulder.  Doing it with the shoulder loose for a while, and then engaging the lats to pull it up (toward spine, not toward ears!) and continue to swing. Strengthens the shoulder girdle. 

There's also a LOT of balance work - which I really need! And a fair bit of very easy beginner breakfalls. Everything that I completely can see how it would benefit the elderly and those of us who are getting there and want to do it safely and with panache. 

 

Good week so far. 2 LI workouts, 1 Elements (so far, second is scheduled for tomorrow morning.) 

 

Still in super-slow season at work, but we will have students back on campus next week so that should help me shake off the last of my December lethargy. 

 

So far so good with consistent meditation and scripture reading.

 

I'm binging "Dr. Dan's Voice Essentials" videos on YouTube and trying to learn everything I can about singing confidently without overpracticing and straining my voice. There is always a danger of me getting way too enthusiastic about whatever my new thing is.

 

One thing I didn't take into account was the antsy feeling I get from deciding that I Am Going to Do A Thing and then not actually having control over when the Thing will be doable. I'm not exactly holding my breath waiting for the theater company to announce when their next audition will be, but ... well, I do go to the website and check every day, sometimes twice a day, just in case there is a glitch in their mailing list and I don't get the next email announcement. 

 

This is silly, they may not audition anything for months. They have a show currently in production which was cast well before I decided any of these things, plus these are all humans with other jobs and families and obligations, and they are just now emerging from the holiday season, like the rest of us. They may not start casting their next show for a month, even two. But still, I am feeling twitchy. I want to do it NOW (while I still have the guts!)

 

Sigh. Patience. It's a concept. 

 

 

 

 

One thing I do have control over is when I will do my first rifle competition - I've decided on April, and I've put both the match date and the date that registration opens on the calendar, so now it's real. 

 

 

 

[Kishi]

7 minutes ago, Gemma said:

Alas, all of the above. And whole shelves of self-help books, thousands of megabytes of blog posts, and more than half of the challenges we create for ourselves are dedicated to circumventing or mediating the impacts of ... all of the above. And yet I still forget, so very often ... 

 

Well, if it helps, a species doesn't develop that kind of body of work unless it's a very common problem!  Surely it must be human to have these problems, and surely it must be human to overcome them.

 

9 minutes ago, Gemma said:

There's also a LOT of balance work - which I really need! And a fair bit of very easy beginner breakfalls. Everything that I completely can see how it would benefit the elderly and those of us who are getting there and want to do it safely and with panache. 

 

Breakfalls are dope. I come to them from a martial arts background, but as I've studied aging and causes of injury and such, I've come to conclude that everyone should do breakfalls and get ups of some kind or other. They're just that good. Cool to see someone else doing them!

[Harriet]

15 hours ago, Gemma said:

Alas, all of the above. And whole shelves of self-help books, thousands of megabytes of blog posts, and more than half of the challenges we create for ourselves are dedicated to circumventing or mediating the impacts of ... all of the above. And yet I still forget, so very often ...

 

Yep. Constantly trying to overpower my worst self with techniques, plans, programmes, practice. Knowing a thing is not mastering a thing.

 

15 hours ago, Gemma said:

One thing I didn't take into account was the antsy feeling I get from deciding that I Am Going to Do A Thing and then not actually having control over when the Thing will be doable. I'm not exactly holding my breath waiting for the theater company to announce when their next audition will be, but ... well, I do go to the website and check every day, sometimes twice a day, just in case there is a glitch in their mailing list and I don't get the next email announcement.

 

Practice sounds like a good way to fill that gap. Can you practice, um, drama? I'm sure actors must... right? How else would they learn their craft?

[Gemma]

On 1/6/2023 at 2:54 PM, Kishi said:

Breakfalls are dope. I come to them from a martial arts background, but as I've studied aging and causes of injury and such, I've come to conclude that everyone should do breakfalls and get ups of some kind or other. They're just that good. Cool to see someone else doing them!

 

I took a really bad fall two years ago in a situation where my arms were so fatigued I didn't get them out in front of me. Like - at all. I landed on my face. Miracle that I didn't break my nose or any teeth, but I carry that scar on my lip as a solid reminder that breakfalls are a GREAT idea. 

 

12 hours ago, Harriet said:

 

Practice sounds like a good way to fill that gap. Can you practice, um, drama? I'm sure actors must... right? How else would they learn their craft?

 

I'm occupying my mind and amusing myself by workshopping Lady M's "the raven himself is hoarse" monologue, because she's fun. Shakespeare monologues are my most favorite way of practicing drama-ing. 

 

 

 

Week one wrap-up:  So far so good. Really having fun with the voice lessons, once I got over the "holy socks I am actually singing in front of another human aaaaauuughhh" panics. I'm managing about 20 minutes of dedicated practice a day, which is reason enough for dusting off my favorite show tunes (currently playing with Cabaret and The Kiss of the Spider Woman ).

 

Scripture reading and meditation actually happened every day this week, which is nice.

 

The getting to bed on time thing has gone great, too - and I've 100% quit drinking coffee. My caffeine consumption is limited to maybe a cup of either Earl Grey or cocoa once or twice a week. Actually sleeping decently more nights than not is a luxury that I had not really indulged in for three and a half decades. Weird, but nice. 

 

Did two Literal Immortality workouts and two Elements workouts this week, but I only got off my butt and did the second Elements this morning because I told y'all I would do it. So... yay, accountability! 

[Everstorm]

Accountability ftw!

[Scaly Freak]

18 hours ago, Harriet said:

Knowing a thing is not mastering a thing.

 

I feel both seen and called out at the same time  

[Harriet]

5 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

I feel both seen and called out at the same time  

 

Pretty sure the call was for everyone 🙂 unless you know someone who mastered all the things they know?

[Gemma]

Week Two is going well, still. We have students on deck at the school again after the long break, so my job plummetted from "wow I wish I had something productive to do" to "wow I wish there were three of me!" abruptly - as it does this time every year. But I am really beginning to enjoy the voice lessons, and Miss Tina swears I am getting better so that's cool. 

 

Still on board with the meditation, the scripture plan, and the getting to bed at a reasonable hour. 

 

Workouts this week are so far at one each - Elements yesterday, LI today. Feels good to be moving again. 

 

[Artemis Prime]

17 minutes ago, Gemma said:

my job plummetted from "wow I wish I had something productive to do" to "wow I wish there were three of me!" abruptly

Somewhere I swear there's a job that operates at the comfortable level of "I have stuff to do but I'm not feeling overwhelmed," but I have yet to find it. Most seem to vacillate between these two extremes (or be forever stuck on the overwhelmed end.)

[Gemma]

On 1/11/2023 at 8:54 AM, Artemis Prime said:

Somewhere I swear there's a job that operates at the comfortable level of "I have stuff to do but I'm not feeling overwhelmed," but I have yet to find it. Most seem to vacillate between these two extremes (or be forever stuck on the overwhelmed end.)

 

Probably a unicorn. I've had a lot of jobs, but none ever steady state. Ah, well ... it's a good problem to have, I suppose, since I do actually have a job that I actually like. #countmyblessings

 

This week ran along quite smoothly for me, but was marred by some disruptive churn in hubs' life. Details behind the wall. 
 

Spoiler

 

Hubs has been a receiver (basically inventory management) at a big retain chain for several years, a job that he loves almost everything about, except for a particularly toxic and incompetent manager. Two weeks ago the toxicity reached hubs' break point.  He turned in his two week notice and was all set to accept a job starting in March working for an old friend of ours, doing the work that we both used to do (aircraft mechanic). Then the current job district manager showed up on Tuesday and begged him to stay, eventually offering to transfer him to another store to work part-time until a brand new store opens up in our area. Once the new store opens, the DM wants hubs to be the person who trains everyone other new receiver in the district. Hubs is really good at his job - his "shrink" rate (a measure of how much profit the store loses due to inventory errors) has decreased to less than 1/4 of what it was when he took the position and is by far the lowest in the district.

 

 

So ... he quit, then kind of semi-unquit, and now the DM has him and everyone else in the store writing statements about toxic manager to send up the chain to HR.  DM has been glossing over the problems with this manager for a couple of years, kind of appropriate because a DM is supposed to be extremely supportive of their store managers. But so much has come to light just since hubs turned in his notice that now the DM has no choice but to agree that toxic manager is bat-crap crazy and needs to be fired.  Other people in the store, including the assistant managers and team leads, are finally getting brave enough to speak up - which they would not previously do for fear of retaliation.

 

Hubs gets sick when he gets stressed, and this has been stressful.  I respond negatively to his stress as well, sometimes with physical symptoms. So between that and probably some stress-related immune system disruption, he and I both woke up sick as dogs yesterday morning. Violent headaches and GI disruptions, mostly, the both of us. 

 

 

 

Today is better, though. I'm working from home and feeling almost back to normal, but I did not work out yesterday and probably won't today either. The idea of consuming food is still a bit sketchy. 

 

Scripture and meditation still on track. 

 

I just watched a YouTube video that made me smack myself in the forehead and castigate myself for a fool for not realizing this before. My anxiety about singing in front of other people is the EXACT SAME anxiety that many people have about public speaking. 

 

A fear, in other words, that it is Literally My Job to help people overcome so they can teach in the large classroom environment. 

 

 

 

So theoretically I should have the tools I need already in my pocket to overcome a public singing phobia. Duh, huh? 

[Sovalis]

Not duh. It makes sense now that you say it out loud, but I don't think I would have put that together on my own. 

 

Hope you're back to rights soon! 

[Rhovaniel]

4 hours ago, Gemma said:

So theoretically I should have the tools I need already in my pocket to overcome a public singing phobia. Duh, huh? 

Be kind. There is a reason for the expression 'Can't see the wood for the trees'. Sometimes it takes an outside perspective. 

[Gemma]

Busy season is busy. Next week is our semi-annual major inspection, so I'm spending all of this week doing pre-audits. Spent the long weekend doing heavy construction at the church. Saturday was siding (still! So much siding!) and Monday I laid all of the flooring in the preschool room by myself so the guys could focus on the siding. I'm counting both of those days as workouts, because 12' long fiber cement siding boards are heavy and awkward, and full boxes of luxury vinyl plank flooring aren't much lighter, and I carried quite a large number of both of the above in addition to all the up and down on ladders/ up and down from the floor. 

 

I opted for the "Low Intensity" version of an Elements workout today, because I'm still sore and fatigued but doing something is better than doing nothing. (I say that a LOT!)

 

Scripture reading and meditation still on track. 

 

My voice teacher is making me sing LOUD and really focus on getting into character. She thinks I need to work on the confidence and drama first, and then sort out any problems with pitchiness or breathiness later - I'd been thinking of it just the opposite, not wanting to get too loud or dramatic in any of the songs until I felt like I was hitting every note and my tone was good, but I guess since I hired a professional to help with something I didn't think I could do on my own I'd best listen to her. 

 

So, dramatic presentation is ON!

 

 

[Everstorm]

2 hours ago, Gemma said:

She thinks I need to work on the confidence and drama first, and then sort out any problems with pitchiness or breathiness later

I wonder if it's more efficient this way?  If you sort the pitch first, you might still have to fix it again with more volume.  By going volume first, you fix pitch once.

 

And building renovations totally count as a workout. 💯

[RES]

On 1/18/2023 at 7:18 AM, Gemma said:

I'm counting both of those days as workouts

I would hope so!!

[Kishi]

On 1/18/2023 at 7:18 AM, Gemma said:

I opted for the "Low Intensity" version of an Elements workout today, because I'm still sore and fatigued but doing something is better than doing nothing. (I say that a LOT!)

 

Well, it's true, so keep saying it. Good for you knowing yourself well enough to know when you need a low intensity day. That takes time and practice.

[Harriet]

On 1/18/2023 at 1:18 PM, Gemma said:

I'm still sore and fatigued but doing something is better than doing nothing. (I say that a LOT!)

 

Repetition of the tenets is important for adherence of the initiates.

 

On 1/18/2023 at 1:18 PM, Gemma said:

My voice teacher is making me sing LOUD and really focus on getting into character. She thinks I need to work on the confidence and drama first, and then sort out any problems with pitchiness or breathiness later - I'd been thinking of it just the opposite, not wanting to get too loud or dramatic in any of the songs until I felt like I was hitting every note and my tone was good, but I guess since I hired a professional to help with something I didn't think I could do on my own I'd best listen to her.

 

I bet she knows what she's doing. It sounds like the recommendations I read to mix free painting with exercises and technique. They said people who focus exclusively on technique, and put off free painting until they have the skill, end up timid in their application.

[Scaly Freak]

So, @Gemma... how is the singing going?  

[Gemma]

So - I've been sickly the past several weeks, and I think I know why. I got new glasses - I think my prescription is not quite right. I get headaches and nausea everytime I read or look at my phone for more than a minute. I've put my old glasses back on now to see if that makes things better. So far so good but it's only been an hour. 

 

 

It's time to get some of that bravery going. 

 

I have an audition on Saturday.   <shrill internal screaming>

 

This one is not for a musical. This one is a straight play, Making God Laugh. I am auditioning for the character Ruthie. I am unlikely to get a role in this production, as it is a very small cast (five players, and Ruthie is the only role that fits my casting type) but the audition experience will help, and it will give me a chance to meet more people in the local arts community. This is a cold read audition, so there really isn't anything I can do to prepare for it. When I walk in they will hand me a page of the script and I will have a couple of minutes to look at it, and then ... go for it. A lot of actors really hate cold reads, but I don't mind them. 

 

Auditions for Shrew are in two weeks. Director Phil has a fairly large selection of roles designated as either male or female, so I am not limited to just The Widow; I've been thinking about how much fun it would be to play Grumio. Audition notes for this one require me to memorize a "one minute monologue from any Shakespeare comedy."

 

Wow, is that easier said than done! The vast majority of Shakespeare's monologues are considerably more than one minute, and most of the good short ones are written for a) men, or b) younger women (a.k.a. romantic lead types, e.g. Helena, Portia). Also it eliminates most of the monologues I already know really well (because they are mostly from tragedies, actually mostly from Macbeth.) I would love to do Paulina's monologue from The Winter's Tale (What studied torments, tyrant, hast for me?) But that would be obeying the letter of the request and not the spirit. The Winter's Tale is generally classed as a comedy, but that monologue and that scene are not at all funny. There are really no comedic ways to say "the queen is dead." It's also pretty long and hard to trim down without losing impact.

 

So after waaayyyyyy too muuch overthinking and creating an actual spreadsheet of monologues with their pros and cons, I've settled on Mistress Page, Act II Scene I of The Merry Wives of Windsor. I'll cut the reading of Falstaff's ridiculous letter and just do the reaction to it. I am pretty sure I can show off my comedic chops with this one. 

 

 

 

Singing lessons are going well. The first song I want in my rep book is Just Around the Corner, from The Addams Family, and working on it has been really, really fun.  No notice yet of any musical theater auditions for this season, so I'm just working out my vocal folds every day in the interest of being ready for them when they do come along. 

 

 

 

So, this is what has eaten all of my time and my brain during this challenge - illness and audition prep. Workouts have again gone the way of the dodo, and my appetite goes to hell in a handbasket when I'm stressed so I'm barely eating anything and running mostly on anxious adrenalin, but I think once I get past Saturday my nerves will settle down a bit. Fingers crossed, anyways  . 

[Elastigirl]

That is so awesome that you are  taking steps and following through on the acting and singing! 1,000 points for charisma!

[Harriet]

Ooh, good luck with the auditions. Sounds like they'll be very useful experiences.

[Scaly Freak]

15 hours ago, Gemma said:

So after waaayyyyyy too muuch overthinking and creating an actual spreadsheet of monologues with their pros and cons, I've settled on Mistress Page, Act II Scene I of The Merry Wives of Windsor. I'll cut the reading of Falstaff's ridiculous letter and just do the reaction to it. I am pretty sure I can show off my comedic chops with this one. 

 

Excellent choice! And I'm sure you will crush it

[Sovalis]

Break a leg!