Osu

[Mistr]

I hope you just get a rainstorm and not more hurricane weather. You've had enough drama recently.

 

I know what you mean about social events messing with eating healthy. I sit right next to the treat/coffee table in my office. We have had three weeks of treats from a variety of visitors and special events. Not to mention the meals out with coworkers and parties with friends. I was pretty good in the first part of September. That all went to hell over the last couple weeks. At least we are cooking plenty of good food at home. My main meals are healthy, I just need to cut back on the sweets.

[Kishi]

On ‎10‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 1:03 PM, Mistr said:

I hope you just get a rainstorm and not more hurricane weather. You've had enough drama recently.

 

Actually, it wound up being worse than Florence for us. Downed trees, power outages, busted traffic lights. It would have been one thing if we'd all stayed home and treated it like it was a hurricane, but we didn't and people were The Worst, as usual.

 

On ‎10‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 1:03 PM, Mistr said:

I know what you mean about social events messing with eating healthy. I sit right next to the treat/coffee table in my office. We have had three weeks of treats from a variety of visitors and special events. Not to mention the meals out with coworkers and parties with friends. I was pretty good in the first part of September. That all went to hell over the last couple weeks. At least we are cooking plenty of good food at home. My main meals are healthy, I just need to cut back on the sweets.

 

Right. Like, it's easy for me to resist those things because they're on the other side of the office and hidden behind a wall of cubicles. But when something social comes and that place is loaded up, and I get over there and take food, it's really hard for me to stop. And, the past days have just been difficult in terms of food serving social function.

 

*

 

Oh my. It's been a week.

 

That won't do.

 

Busy times right now, so the short version is that training has been happening despite hurricanes and everything trying to do otherwise.

 

Month wound up being more expensive than I thought it'd be; car is repaired and running better and it's passed inspection, but getting everything renewed is going to blow up my budget unless a couple of the side gigs pay like they're supposed to, which they won't. So I gotta roll the dice for just another couple of weeks. Good news is that OT came back a lot sooner than anyone expected, so I'mma start working that again on Saturdays to pull in more fundage. Being out of the apartment will also help me get to Judo on Saturday.

 

Writing is going good. I've been playing with Jim Butcher's idea of Scenes and Sequels, which is his underlying structure for everything he writes (mostly plainly on display in the Dresden Files considering how info-heavy that series is). It's been educational, actually, because I've had opportunity to figure out where there was more opportunity for drama and character play, and it's been fascinating.

 

Diet's been solid for the past week, except for last night again. We hit the end of season 1 of The Expanse, which took longer than a normal night, so even though I hit my plan like I was supposed to, Chipotle was closed by the time I was out. So close, and yet so far. 6 bad days, 1 mitigated.

 

And, yup. The grind goes on.

[Kishi]

Thursday was a day! Thursday was karate and handstand work. Sparring at karate was slowed down so that we could practice things - getting off the line and being destructive from there - and this was a good choice because we the students got the chance to practice without getting lit up.

 

Headstands afterward were kind of weird. I could put them up, and there were times when I would overcorrect into the wall. But they didn't feel like before where I couldn't get it back - I just twitched a little and found my way back to having all my joints stacked up like they were supposed to be. I think I can say I got it, or at least that's how it feels.

 

Friday I decided to switch up the training a little bit - switched Core and Upper Body days, just to see what it feels like. And there's a gym going in near me - I don't know if I've mentioned that - that's going to have bags set up as well as what looks like metal stall bars for side lever work. It's coming pretty soon, or so it seems. But yeah, with all that being so close, I just couldn't muster up the energy to drive out to Apex. Especially with my plate situation being what it is and it being this close to resolved, and also I was out of clean clothes.

 

Incline Push Ups: 1x9

Integrated Mobility: DONE

 

Push Ups: 5x7

Integrated Mobility: DONE

• Finally got the hang of these to the point where I'm going to add reps. Just in time for deload.

High Rows: 1x9

Integrated Mobility: DONE

 

Lower Rows: 5x9

Integrated Mobility: DONE

• Leverage on these things is nuts. Change the height of the rings and it gets harder. Change your foot placement and it gets harder. Change both and it gets a lot harder, and you don't have the ability to determine what part contributed what. So, I've decided to reset my feet and just focus on ring height for now. When I get back to 5x15... I dunno.

Scap Push Ups: 1x15

Integrated Mobility: DONE

 

Forearm Plank: 1x9s

Integrated Mobility: DONE

 

Hollow Body Plank: 4x36s

Integrated Mobility: DONE

• So much easier without having boxed first.

Of course, core work is going to be... an ordeal, come Sunday. And I'll be training people that day... whoof. So I'll probably go from training folks to the gym to the dojo. That's going to be a long, long day. Can't wait.

 

In the meantime, though, today is Kali and Kettlebells. Curious to see what they feel like today, since the side lever stuff involves lots of lumbar paraspinal work and I tend to feel it working if I do bells the day after. Not so today, so.

[Treva]

Hey!  I am glad you are okay after Michael.  Do you have any lasting damage?  I was looking at the surface weather maps and isobars etc. and decided it was essentially a tornado the size of Texas.  I hope you are alright in all aspects.

 

On 10/20/2018 at 2:02 PM, Kishi said:

In the meantime, though, today is Kali and Kettlebells.

Beautiful

 

On 10/18/2018 at 11:36 AM, Kishi said:

Writing is going good. I've been playing with Jim Butcher's idea of Scenes and Sequels, which is his underlying structure for everything he writes (mostly plainly on display in the Dresden Files considering how info-heavy that series is). It's been educational, actually, because I've had opportunity to figure out where there was more opportunity for drama and character play, and it's been fascinating.

YAAAY!!!!!!!  I love this.  I am so excited to hear this.  I know you have been working on the writing for a long time, and I'm glad to hear you talking about things being fascinating!!!  Yay.

 

On 10/20/2018 at 2:02 PM, Kishi said:

And there's a gym going in near me - I don't know if I've mentioned that - that's going to have bags set up as well as what looks like metal stall bars for side lever work. It's coming pretty soon, or so it seems. But yeah, with all that being so close, I just couldn't muster up the energy to drive out to Apex. Especially with my plate situation being what it is and it being this close to resolved, and also I was out of clean clothes.

hey, I am glad to hear a gym is going in near you.  I remember you talking a bit about finding the right place with the right equipment, and I'm glad to hear someplace like that will be more accessible to you.  That is really good news!

 

Being out of clean clothes, I feel this.  Very much.  Such a struggle, honestly.  

[Kishi]

11 hours ago, Treva said:

Hey!  I am glad you are okay after Michael.  Do you have any lasting damage?  I was looking at the surface weather maps and isobars etc. and decided it was essentially a tornado the size of Texas.  I hope you are alright in all aspects.

 

Yup! None the worse for wear. I was afraid we'd have some flooding but no lasting issues.

 

12 hours ago, Treva said:

YAAAY!!!!!!!  I love this.  I am so excited to hear this.  I know you have been working on the writing for a long time, and I'm glad to hear you talking about things being fascinating!!!  Yay.

 

Yeah! I'm really excited about this project. I'm sorry I haven't been sharing samples over in the Scriptorium, but given that I'm going to be generating ~50K words next month I'm sure I'll find something.

 

12 hours ago, Treva said:

hey, I am glad to hear a gym is going in near you.  I remember you talking a bit about finding the right place with the right equipment, and I'm glad to hear someplace like that will be more accessible to you.  That is really good news!

 

Yup. It's gonna be in walking distance of me, and it looks like it's gonna have a way better set up for the kinds of things I like to do. It's slated to open in "Winter 2018," so sooner rather than later.

 

12 hours ago, Treva said:

Being out of clean clothes, I feel this.  Very much.  Such a struggle, honestly.

 

Right? Of all the anticipated nemeses of living out on my own, laundry was not very high on the list.

 

*

 

So, Saturday. Let's talk.

 

Saturday I decided to go ahead and hit up some OT, work on some cases that needed to be worked on. I got done what I meant to get done, although it took me longer than I would have liked.

 

Kali afterward was good. I didn't get to make a full class of it but Manong's really cool about that kind of thing. Played with footwork and making room for the blade, basically.

 

Kettlebells are going well, but I'm going to keep them where they are for a bit. Keeping mindful of that elbow. Don't want to exacerbate things there. As it is, it has a tendency to feel sore at the end of the day but then feel fine the next day. Must be all the turmeric.

 

Sunday, I got a text from my mom that the cat and the mail at the house had been taken care of. Realized it must have been my brother, since I completely forgot that I said I'd do it. He's the real MVP.

 

Went off and trained people and didn't get paid because the guy who pays for the girl got the money but accidentally took it with him. This is credible to me, given what I know of them, so I'm not going to read anything into it, but it's like I planned. Anticipated? Dunno.

 

I did, however, get farm fresh eggs, which doesn't feel like that bad of a trade, especially as I value them. Went off to the gym, made it partway through my Core work before going off to boxing where we, thankfully, took it easy, and I was able to go back to the gym and finish my work after.

 

So, yeah. That's the way of things right now.

 

Today, I had a banana bread cupcake, after my boss wanted to celebrate her grandson's first birthday. It was tasty - weird consistency, though, like a muffin with frosting. No complaints. Tomorrow will be Boss' Day, Wednesday will be beers, Thursday will be weird on account of not knowing whether or not I'm going to fish with my dad (we're fine, but the weather looks like it might get hairy), Friday will be dinner with friends, Saturday will be lunch with the dojo.

 

Good Lord. Gonna have to tread carefully here if I mean to see progress.

[Kishi]

So, decided to run my measurements ahead of the food, and, uh, well, I'm down about a lb. Which is a little frustrating, but you figure, since last measurement, there've been about 8 days where things didn't go right. That means I'm only being compliant with my macros about 2/3 of the time. It's really hard to be successful on a cut if you're only in cut 2 days out of 3. And I'm glad I've been tracking - the temptation to cut those calories is real, and I came damn close to doing that anyway even with my knowledge. I just had... no idea that I was that far out of compliance.

 

Looks like I have to get a handle on social stuff. I have on strategy in place - low cal and low carb and train hard to make a needy environment - but it's not practical to hit that all the time and I'd really rather not resort to that for every single thing.

 

Another option would be to just let meals be meals and not eat the food I've packed on top of food I've been served. There's no real reason to anyway; I can keep them stored fine and now that it's cooling off around here I don't even have to worry about the heat getting to it.

 

I think that's how I'mma do it going forward, at least for the next bit or so. Although, between Friday night and Saturday... I mean, yo. I dunno how I'mma manage that. And come to think of it, I might have to opt out of my part for getting food ready on Saturday, because I don't see how to manage both family and the dojo, you know?

 

Monday was a quiet day. I returned to gaming! We weren't shitty to each other! So pretty great. Monday DM-san is down with the sickness in the long term, so we've elected to start a 5e game in a homebrew setting which I think will be pretty great. I'm playing a Shifter Barbarian to go against type, and I think it's gonna be effin' sweet.

 

Today, Karate and Kettlebells. Also, need to stop hiding over here and get back to the Monastery so we can see what's up.

[Urgan]

15 hours ago, Kishi said:

So, decided to run my measurements ahead of the food, and, uh, well, I'm down about a lb. Which is a little frustrating, but you figure, since last measurement, there've been about 8 days where things didn't go right. That means I'm only being compliant with my macros about 2/3 of the time. It's really hard to be successful on a cut if you're only in cut 2 days out of 3. And I'm glad I've been tracking - the temptation to cut those calories is real, and I came damn close to doing that anyway even with my knowledge. I just had... no idea that I was that far out of compliance.

 

Looks like I have to get a handle on social stuff. I have on strategy in place - low cal and low carb and train hard to make a needy environment - but it's not practical to hit that all the time and I'd really rather not resort to that for every single thing.

 

Another option would be to just let meals be meals and not eat the food I've packed on top of food I've been served. There's no real reason to anyway; I can keep them stored fine and now that it's cooling off around here I don't even have to worry about the heat getting to it.

 

Not every social event is going to have the same priority. Some things are going to be must do hell yeahs and some are gonna be spontaneous oh-by-the-ways, right? It's "easier" in my case to just never eat anything that's brought in and deposited on an office table, between a nut allergy and all the fun sensitivities on board, there are stakes for this stuff. Then there's going out to eat at restaurants with coworkers, which every blue moon I might do. Family wanting to go out to eat is rare enough, but two days a week I might as well be playing that tabletop game along with you, because I be rolling the macro dice to find out what mom has cooked for dinner lol. Luckily she is down with my weird eating patterns, but you still never know for sure. Will there be rice? Will there be enough protein? LET'S FIND OUT. 

 

I'm pretty rigid, I will say no to just about anything if it doesn't fit. That's consistent with my personality and preferences anyway. You seem like you might need to set some "rules" that straddle the line between hard and fast no-go zones ("never eat catered/delivered food") and IIFYM, with significant emphasis on IIFYM. At the end of the day, quality is really important but when you are trying to drop some weight calories and macros are what you live or die by.

[Mistr]

On 10/22/2018 at 4:32 PM, Kishi said:

Yeah! I'm really excited about this project. I'm sorry I haven't been sharing samples over in the Scriptorium, but given that I'm going to be generating ~50K words next month I'm sure I'll find something.

 

Yay for moving forward with your writing projects!

 

On 10/22/2018 at 4:32 PM, Kishi said:

Right? Of all the anticipated nemeses of living out on my own, laundry was not very high on the list.

 

Having laundry machines available anytime is a huge luxury. I used to go to the laundromat before we had a house. It was the same price as doing laundry in my building and I could wash everything at the same time. Basically three hours to get five loads of laundry washed, dried and folded. I would bring a book or a fun fiber arts project as a reward for going and doing it. It took a chunk of time out of my week, but at least it all got done.

 

On 10/22/2018 at 4:32 PM, Kishi said:

Saturday I decided to go ahead and hit up some OT, work on some cases that needed to be worked on. I got done what I meant to get done, although it took me longer than I would have liked.

 

Yeah, take advantage of the OT while you can get it. Especially considering that your clients are unreliable about paying you.

 

On 10/22/2018 at 4:32 PM, Kishi said:

Today, I had a banana bread cupcake, after my boss wanted to celebrate her grandson's first birthday. It was tasty - weird consistency, though, like a muffin with frosting. No complaints. Tomorrow will be Boss' Day, Wednesday will be beers, Thursday will be weird on account of not knowing whether or not I'm going to fish with my dad (we're fine, but the weather looks like it might get hairy), Friday will be dinner with friends, Saturday will be lunch with the dojo.

 

Good Lord. Gonna have to tread carefully here if I mean to see progress.

 

19 hours ago, Kishi said:

So, decided to run my measurements ahead of the food, and, uh, well, I'm down about a lb. Which is a little frustrating, but you figure, since last measurement, there've been about 8 days where things didn't go right. That means I'm only being compliant with my macros about 2/3 of the time. It's really hard to be successful on a cut if you're only in cut 2 days out of 3. And I'm glad I've been tracking - the temptation to cut those calories is real, and I came damn close to doing that anyway even with my knowledge. I just had... no idea that I was that far out of compliance.

 

Looks like I have to get a handle on social stuff. I have on strategy in place - low cal and low carb and train hard to make a needy environment - but it's not practical to hit that all the time and I'd really rather not resort to that for every single thing.

 

Another option would be to just let meals be meals and not eat the food I've packed on top of food I've been served. There's no real reason to anyway; I can keep them stored fine and now that it's cooling off around here I don't even have to worry about the heat getting to it.

 

I think your plan of eating food from social events and not the food you packed makes sense. If you have a fridge at work you can just leave it for the next day. If you don't have access to a fridge, you might want to get an insulated lunch bag or a small cooler and some ice packs. Eating food from other people lets you participate in social events AND cuts down your grocery bill.

 

As @Urgan said, the challenging part is sticking close to your macros when other people are providing the food. I favor the strategy of balancing your macros over a couple days. If you go to an event where everything is deep fried and the closest thing to a vegetable is ketchup, that's fine. The next day you eat salad, lots of veggies and maybe some chicken breast. You know that social food tends to be high in carbs, so you can bring lunches that are low carb, or have the carbs packed separately so you can skip them when you don't need them.

 

Being down a pound shows you are on the right track. Sure, it's not going as fast as you want. Considering the circumstances you are doing great to be losing weight at all.

[Teirin]

Admittedly, I would also eat at work events and cut down on groceries if I could.  

 

Yay for farm fresh eggs as payment!  Money is admittedly better, but eggs are good food.

[Kishi]

On ‎10‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 10:08 AM, Urgan said:

Not every social event is going to have the same priority. Some things are going to be must do hell yeahs and some are gonna be spontaneous oh-by-the-ways, right? It's "easier" in my case to just never eat anything that's brought in and deposited on an office table, between a nut allergy and all the fun sensitivities on board, there are stakes for this stuff. Then there's going out to eat at restaurants with coworkers, which every blue moon I might do. Family wanting to go out to eat is rare enough, but two days a week I might as well be playing that tabletop game along with you, because I be rolling the macro dice to find out what mom has cooked for dinner lol. Luckily she is down with my weird eating patterns, but you still never know for sure. Will there be rice? Will there be enough protein? LET'S FIND OUT. 

 

Girl, you are so right. One of my coworkers has a side hustle as a baker, and she'll bring stuff in, and it's no big deal because it's just food. But then you have my supervisor who brings in homemade cupcakes because she wants to celebrate her grandson's first birthday, and she's gone out of her way to make it without gluten or allergens or anything like that. And I'm like "... damn."

 

But otherwise, yeah. Some things are hell yeahs, like when I go home to visit my folks and they make delicious breakfast foods as a treat to celebrate, like sausage croissant rolls and ham pinwheels. Other times, not so much. But if I can stack the deck in those cases with proteins and leafy veggies, and avoid the desserts, pretty much the rest should manage itself.

 

23 hours ago, Mistr said:

Yay for moving forward with your writing projects!

 

Thanks!

 

23 hours ago, Mistr said:

Having laundry machines available anytime is a huge luxury. I used to go to the laundromat before we had a house. It was the same price as doing laundry in my building and I could wash everything at the same time. Basically three hours to get five loads of laundry washed, dried and folded. I would bring a book or a fun fiber arts project as a reward for going and doing it. It took a chunk of time out of my week, but at least it all got done.

 

Yeah. It's pretty great. The only thing is, I've got to take the time to do it, and since I'm sharing the machines w/ a couple of tenants upstairs, that can get logistically dicey. To be clear, they're nice about it, but my laundry tends to be pretty involved with all the gi I have to wash and towels and just everything. And with me being out the door at 9 and not back and settled until 21 or 22:00, it's... a challenge.

 

23 hours ago, Mistr said:

Yeah, take advantage of the OT while you can get it. Especially considering that your clients are unreliable about paying you.

 

Yup. It's funny; I've told myself there was no point in going, but I get so much good out of just a little bit of time.

 

23 hours ago, Mistr said:

I think your plan of eating food from social events and not the food you packed makes sense. If you have a fridge at work you can just leave it for the next day. If you don't have access to a fridge, you might want to get an insulated lunch bag or a small cooler and some ice packs. Eating food from other people lets you participate in social events AND cuts down your grocery bill.

 

20 hours ago, Teirin said:

Admittedly, I would also eat at work events and cut down on groceries if I could.

 

Well, as luck would have it, I have access to both a fridge and insulated packaging with ice, so it's actually all quite good. And I hadn't quite figured on the grocery bill but, you know, you're right.

 

23 hours ago, Mistr said:

As @Urgan said, the challenging part is sticking close to your macros when other people are providing the food. I favor the strategy of balancing your macros over a couple days. If you go to an event where everything is deep fried and the closest thing to a vegetable is ketchup, that's fine. The next day you eat salad, lots of veggies and maybe some chicken breast. You know that social food tends to be high in carbs, so you can bring lunches that are low carb, or have the carbs packed separately so you can skip them when you don't need them.

 

Yup, that's kind of what I figured. This is actually very similar to GB's dietary guidelines - lunch should have a protein, a veggie, a starch/carb, and some fat. And I keep that stuff in separate containers anyway, so it works. And then I can just try to touch the bases at events and if it turns out sideways, I have stuff stored and ready to counter.

 

Come to think of it, though, I probably wouldn't have made the connection that I could eat my carrot sticks on days when pizza is what's for lunch, so thanks for that!

 

23 hours ago, Mistr said:

Being down a pound shows you are on the right track. Sure, it's not going as fast as you want. Considering the circumstances you are doing great to be losing weight at all.

 

Thank you. Actually, to tell you the truth, I'm kind of surprised at the scale, given that I look like I'm tightening up a bit in the mirror. Go figure. So, pretty sanguine ultimately.

 

20 hours ago, Teirin said:

Yay for farm fresh eggs as payment!  Money is admittedly better, but eggs are good food.

 

Yup! High quality foodstuffs, and because they ain't been sitting in transport for weeks, they keep and keep...

 

*

 

So! Tuesday was good. Karate went off without a hitch and we focused on blending judo into things again. K-sensei also gave me another kata - Tekki Shodan, which is all about getting low and transitioning. This, he says, is the next level for me. I actually kind of like it - the whole thing is done on one line, and I can practice it in the space I have in my apartment now. And also, unlike endless horse stance work, I get to practice movement at that height and keeping that height.

 

Kettlebells were easy on account of deloaded training.

 

Wednesday was quiet and busy. Normally I do Legs on that day, but I couldn't get out early and I thought that I'd have to wind up being late to visit with my friend. I didn't want to disrespect his time, so I elected to drive out instead. This wound up being the right call, as there was an accident on the way to his place and traffic was a bugger. And anyway, GB's stuff is nice and modular, so I can just plug legs in anywhere I want. Such as tomorrow.

 

Diet still went wrong, though. I had actually intuited @Mistr's advice about leaving food behind, and it worked, but I didn't feel right about leaving the starches behind again, so I figured I should eat those. There wound up being beer, as I knew there would be. And that wound up leading to junk food again.

 

I suppose I probably could have left the starches out again, but the trick with steamed potatoes is you gotta eat 'em or they go bad. Even the sweet ones do this.

 

Tonight should be Karate and deloaded Handstand work. So. Let's get it.

[Mistr]

On 10/25/2018 at 4:59 PM, Kishi said:

I suppose I probably could have left the starches out again, but the trick with steamed potatoes is you gotta eat 'em or they go bad. Even the sweet ones do this.

 

The next trick you need is to throw them in the freezer. Or you could try roasting instead of steaming. I can vouch that roasted potatoes or sweet potatoes keep for at least a week in the fridge.

[Urgan]

2 hours ago, Mistr said:

 

The next trick you need is to throw them in the freezer. Or you could try roasting instead of steaming. I can vouch that roasted potatoes or sweet potatoes keep for at least a week in the fridge.

 

Can confirm roasted potatoes do just fine in the microwave the next day. You have the technology to make a variety of root vegetables work for you lol.

[Kishi]

On ‎10‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 6:04 PM, Mistr said:

 

The next trick you need is to throw them in the freezer. Or you could try roasting instead of steaming. I can vouch that roasted potatoes or sweet potatoes keep for at least a week in the fridge. 

 

On ‎10‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 8:30 PM, Urgan said:

 

Can confirm roasted potatoes do just fine in the microwave the next day. You have the technology to make a variety of root vegetables work for you lol.

 

Roasting might just be my next trick. Freezing might be a bit much, just because of the logistics of freezer space. Might have to make a project of freeing up space. Among others.

 

*

 

Okay, so, I gotta level with you guys. It's actually been pretty stressful lately.

 

Remember when I said that I had worked enough hours to hopefully not starve for getting my car fixed?

 

Well, I did work enough hours... but I didn't get paid for all the hours that I worked. I got OT pay for my time volunteering with the Red Cross, but the pay wasn't actually entered into my paycheck because there were some filing problems over in HR. And, as a result, those hours are going to be applied to my paycheck this month instead.

 

I didn't know this when I went and got my repairs done, so Thursday I checked my account and it had basically bottomed out with a week until payday. And boy howdy, did that put me down for a bit.

 

So, I didn't go out to Karate that night because I wanted to conserve gas in the tank. Then, Friday, I took the day off - I'd planned to anyway, but we didn't go fishing on account of crappy weather - then put the last of my money in the gas tank so I could go off to teach in Durham. After that, high-tailed it back to Garner where I'm helping out on the ground floor of an indie book publicity and promotions company.

 

Saturday, Kali, then back to Garner again for more training on more duties.

 

Thankfully, in the midst of all this, I was well-taken care-of. Everywhere I went there was food, and I was fed, and I came back from Saturday with lots of good Filipino food - adobo chicken and cassava cake. It wound up being more than I needed, and I was also able to eat off the canned goods I'd stored for Florence.

 

God was very kind to me.

 

It also meant going off my macros pretty hard, but what can you do? Cutting is a vanity thing anyway.

 

Saturday night, I got a card in the mail from Capital One. I've been paying down debt for a long, long time, and my scores are good enough to the point that I can start to earn travel points. Also, I applied for the card because I saw this coming, and it arrived that night.

 

So, this is a relief. I'm using it right now to carry me to payday, but the longer term plan is to use it to pay off my monthly bills and then to pay it off around paydays when I'm flush with cash and can really afford to.

 

But, uh, yeah.

 

Oh, and the check engine light's back on, but at least I passed inspection before that happened. But I've paid off the registration fees, have the receipts, so now if something happens, I have documentation to show I'm fixing it.

 

And, I got promoted! Didn't mention that but I got a cool 5% added to my paycheck for not that much more work. So, you know. Not the worst thing ever.

 

So. After all of that, I'm hitting the reset button on my diet goals. All that stuff that happened? Tough, but done with.

 

Today, gaming. Rest beyond that.

[Mistr]

Congratulations on the promotion!

 

Good work on anticipating your cash flow woes and setting up a method to deal with things. It sucks that you didn't get the money you were expecting from the work you put in last month. Those weeks of paycheck anticipation are tough. I'm glad you are getting fed by your friends.

 

I hear you on the check engine light woes. Our Mazda has the same issue but with the brake and ABS lights. We just had the brakes done, so I don't think it is real. However, it makes it unsettling to drive the car and will make it hard to sell.

[Treva]

On 10/23/2018 at 5:54 PM, Kishi said:

Today, Karate and Kettlebells. Also, need to stop hiding over here and get back to the Monastery so we can see what's up.

you're allowed to hide over here.  We come and visit!  and shout nice things outside your training dojo!

 

6 hours ago, Kishi said:

Well, I did work enough hours... but I didn't get paid for all the hours that I worked. I got OT pay for my time volunteering with the Red Cross, but the pay wasn't actually entered into my paycheck because there were some filing problems over in HR. And, as a result, those hours are going to be applied to my paycheck this month instead.

 

I didn't know this when I went and got my repairs done, so Thursday I checked my account and it had basically bottomed out with a week until payday. And boy howdy, did that put me down for a bit.

ouuuuch oof.  That sounds rough, by a lot.   But I am glad you had enough food stored up so you wouldn't starve, that's very good.  It is nice for you to not starve, and it is nice of people to feed you as well.  

 

6 hours ago, Kishi said:

 

Saturday night, I got a card in the mail from Capital One. I've been paying down debt for a long, long time, and my scores are good enough to the point that I can start to earn travel points. Also, I applied for the card because I saw this coming, and it arrived that night.

 

So, this is a relief. I'm using it right now to carry me to payday, but the longer term plan is to use it to pay off my monthly bills and then to pay it off around paydays when I'm flush with cash and can really afford to.

 

But, uh, yeah.

Great thinking ahead, that was a slick move, and I'm glad you'll be able to find ways to tide yourself over in small inconvenient spots like this one.  That sounds like a solid plan to keep your credit score in a good place.  Good stuff.  12/10 on the Adult Preparation scale.  

 

6 hours ago, Kishi said:

nd, I got promoted! Didn't mention that but I got a cool 5% added to my paycheck for not that much more work. So, you know. Not the worst thing ever.

 

So. After all of that, I'm hitting the reset button on my diet goals. All that stuff that happened? Tough, but done with.

 

Today, gaming. Rest beyond that.

Congratulations on the promotion!!!  I'm glad you got more to your paycheck!! That is great! (not the worst thing ever at all!)

Reset buttons are there for good reasons.  You got through a rough food/financial situation, and those situations don't always give the luxury of eating On Macro.  Tough, but you did it, and you put provisions in place before to take care of yourself too.  

 

I am glad you are gaming and resting.  A promotion and all that car stuff, you have earned it for sure.  

[Kishi]

On ‎10‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 4:41 PM, Mistr said:

Congratulations on the promotion!

 

Thank you!

 

On ‎10‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 4:41 PM, Mistr said:

Good work on anticipating your cash flow woes and setting up a method to deal with things. It sucks that you didn't get the money you were expecting from the work you put in last month. Those weeks of paycheck anticipation are tough. I'm glad you are getting fed by your friends.

 

Me too. They're good cooks, or else they have good beer.  But otherwise, yeah. Paycheck's in today, so now we get to do the fun part of re-assigning bills. Which also means I get to go through my finances and cut dead weight. Fun times.

 

On ‎10‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 4:41 PM, Mistr said:

I hear you on the check engine light woes. Our Mazda has the same issue but with the brake and ABS lights. We just had the brakes done, so I don't think it is real. However, it makes it unsettling to drive the car and will make it hard to sell.

 

Well, fortunately, it turns out it was just a loose gas cap. "So you stand by your work, then?" "Oh, buddy, we ain't worried about that."

 

On ‎10‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 9:51 PM, Treva said:

you're allowed to hide over here.  We come and visit!  and shout nice things outside your training dojo!

 

Shades of "Say Anything," huh? I'll take it though, thank you!

 

On ‎10‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 9:51 PM, Treva said:

ouuuuch oof.  That sounds rough, by a lot.   But I am glad you had enough food stored up so you wouldn't starve, that's very good.  It is nice for you to not starve, and it is nice of people to feed you as well. 

 

Yeah. Like I said, I was very well-taken care-of. So it didn't really amount to much trouble at all, for as much stress as it was.

 

On ‎10‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 9:51 PM, Treva said:

Great thinking ahead, that was a slick move, and I'm glad you'll be able to find ways to tide yourself over in small inconvenient spots like this one.  That sounds like a solid plan to keep your credit score in a good place.  Good stuff.  12/10 on the Adult Preparation scale.

 

Well, it just makes sense, you know? Rent's no trouble because I pay it when I'm flush. The bills wouldn't be either if I was paying them when flush. So, how to consolidate? I don't have a second income to help me like everyone else does, so I need to find a second option, and this makes the most sense to me.

 

Also, you know, earning travel points as I go. Should be coolish.

 

On ‎10‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 9:51 PM, Treva said:

Congratulations on the promotion!!!  I'm glad you got more to your paycheck!! That is great! (not the worst thing ever at all!)

 

Thank you!

 

On ‎10‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 9:51 PM, Treva said:

Reset buttons are there for good reasons.  You got through a rough food/financial situation, and those situations don't always give the luxury of eating On Macro.  Tough, but you did it, and you put provisions in place before to take care of yourself too.  

 

I am glad you are gaming and resting.  A promotion and all that car stuff, you have earned it for sure.

 

Yup. I survived it. I even managed to do so without complaining about it until after the fact, which says something about how far I've come from the person I used to be. And now, new challenges on the horizon, but these are challenged I want, so it's good.

 

*

 

Whew, another couple of days. Aight, let's catch it up.

 

So, Monday, gaming and rest. We're playing 5e now as a bunch of seaborne venture capitalists in a homebrew archipelago setting. "Holy crow, you're playing pirates?" No, no, don't call it that or our lawful good character will pitch a fit. It was a good game, though; the islands are all basically a little different, and they all have indigenous spirits that we need to take care of, and we killed some other pirates. I'm playing a Barbarian Shifter, and have been the butt of many jokes about being the table furry. which is a real change of pace given that I usually play Monks. Only problem is, I don't really know how to make him stand out, and I passed a bunch of time on my phone which was a poor social choice under this DM as it gave him the impression I wasn't really engaged. Need to do better than that.

 

Tuesday's plan was karate and kettlebells, but that didn't go according to plan. Instead, I had to go do some stuff for a work function today, and the errand ended up being such that I couldn't get out of work, get that done, get my groceries, get home, get cooking, and get to class. So I wound up passing on that. Kettlebells, however, went very well; my elbow's recovered to the point that I can do curls down in the prying goblet squats during warm ups. After that was done, did tekki shodan and shadowboxed for a bit.

 

Today is a Halloween function at work. There is lots of candy and a social obligation to indulge. This will be hell on my macros. Fortunately, however, I anticipated this and executed drastic measures - low calorie, low carb, high fat eating on Tuesday. Combined with the training, the muscles should be at least a little empty of glycogen, and I'll be doing a bit of exercise beforehand to activate some metabolic switches for storage in muscle. So, it'll be what it'll be.

 

And tonight? At midnight, NaNo starts. Ulp. Might need to find a way to become a morning person.

[Urgan]

26 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Today is a Halloween function at work. There is lots of candy and a social obligation to indulge.

 

[Kishi]

2 hours ago, Urgan said:

 

 

this is so appropriate I can't

[Kishi]

Wednesday down! Could have gone better, could have gone worse.

 

So, Wednesday turned out to have a lot of high-quality food. I didn't pack any lunch for it, and the gambled paid off - good proteins, good fats, cold veggies by the fistful, and of course, carbs. And queso as well; homemade by one of my coworkers and is frankly good enough to be a food group.

 

I went to the bathroom prior and busted out a bunch of squats and wall push ups, and tucked in. High quality foods first, carbs after. Carbs, incidentally, were a fruit tart and a homemade Halloween chex mix, so lots of homemade sweets which means higher quality than candy. Although there was also a candy bowl. I took one. And half a cupcake.

 

The craziest thing about it was, when all was said and done, I was quite satisfied. I didn't need anything more than what I'd got. I kept waiting for myself to get hungry or for a craving to hit, and instead... nothing. One thing I attribute this to is that, after the last round of measurements, I reintroduced breakfast to the equation - protein and fat to keep insulin low and try to get the best of both worlds in terms of fat burning and also the weight management benefits correlated with breaking the fast. I'm not sure if breakfast is necessarily magic on its own but if it makes indulgence harder, well. Maybe that's where it is?

 

Anyway, got out of work late and no time to train, so I went and got some beer and prepared to go watch the Expanse. Except that didn't happen because it was Halloween and my friend had set up a fire pit out front with mulled cider so he could pass candy out to kids, and had invited other friends. So instead, I sat in front of the fire, drank good booze, and had good conversation. It was a good night.

 

Stayed up until midnight and wrote about 700 words for the Word God NaNoWriMo. Because, yup, we're back on that one. Words came, though, and easier than I thought they would, so that was pretty great.

 

Today, karate and handstands. I'm a little intimidated by the logistics of this month, not gonna lie. Just a whole lot of go for the next 30 days and I don't really see anyone giving me time to rest.

 

OTOH, I don't know if it's that, or if it's the fact that I'm putting blockers on most of my media and just spending that time writing that intimidates me instead, you know? And it could also be that I'm a little obsessive about the project right now. It's got that New Project smell and everything. I don't take that much idle time, and the thought of giving it to something else, even something I want to give it to, is a looming thing in my mind.

 

But so be it. This is what I signed up for.

[Kishi]

Thursday down.

 

Karate wound up not happening on account of late departure from work. Usual story - got to work late, got out of work late, got to groceries late and couldn't put it all together in time to get out on the mats.

 

The novel was a good excuse, though, and I wound up banging out ~2200 words before midnight.

 

Headstand work went off almost perfectly. I've been overdoing it when I kick up, and I want to get that absolutely right, so I'm electing to stay where I am in the progression for now until that's settled.

 

Otherwise, though, it'll be legs and abz tonight. And then another meeting with the publicists. Then back home to work on my own writing. Cool.

[Mistr]

1 hour ago, Kishi said:

The novel was a good excuse, though, and I wound up banging out ~2200 words before midnight.

 

Yay for words! You have been wanting to write for years. Give yourself the permission to take time for this project. You put in extra time training for big events in your martial arts, you set aside martial arts classes to help your friends move, you can set aside things to give yourself time to write. Possibly earlier in the evening so you also have time to sleep.  

 

1 hour ago, Kishi said:

Headstand work went off almost perfectly. I've been overdoing it when I kick up, and I want to get that absolutely right, so I'm electing to stay where I am in the progression for now until that's settled.

 

Awesome. Headstands are cool.

 

1 hour ago, Kishi said:

Otherwise, though, it'll be legs and abz tonight. And then another meeting with the publicists. Then back home to work on my own writing. Cool.

 

Publicists?

[Treva]

On 11/1/2018 at 11:06 AM, Kishi said:

Except that didn't happen because it was Halloween and my friend had set up a fire pit out front with mulled cider so he could pass candy out to kids, and had invited other friends. So instead, I sat in front of the fire, drank good booze, and had good conversation. It was a good night.

This sounds like amazing fun.

 

On 11/2/2018 at 3:59 PM, Kishi said:

 

The novel was a good excuse, though, and I wound up banging out ~2200 words before midnight

Yay!!! Go you!!! Wonderful!

 

On 11/2/2018 at 5:32 PM, Mistr said:

 

Quote

Otherwise, though, it'll be legs and abz tonight. And then another meeting with the publicists. Then back home to work on my own writing. Cool.

 

Publicists?

Publicists?

[Kishi]

On ‎11‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 5:32 PM, Mistr said:

Yay for words! You have been wanting to write for years. Give yourself the permission to take time for this project. You put in extra time training for big events in your martial arts, you set aside martial arts classes to help your friends move, you can set aside things to give yourself time to write. Possibly earlier in the evening so you also have time to sleep.  

 

On ‎11‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 9:58 PM, Treva said:

Yay!!! Go you!!! Wonderful!

 

I shall, and thank you! It just feels good for something to finally come out that I like. It feels like my study has paid off in a big way and I've struck this strong balance between planning and pantsing (structure vs going with the flow). NaNo writing, to be clear, is always bad, but this is the best bad I've done in years.

 

On ‎11‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 5:32 PM, Mistr said:

Awesome. Headstands are cool.

 

Right? Once upon a time, I did yoga to impress a girl. Could do headstands, but couldn't do them freestanding or with my joints properly stacked. Wonder how that'd go now.

 

On ‎11‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 9:58 PM, Treva said:

This sounds like amazing fun.

 

It was! Other neighbors were out, and they'd come and go. Someone was cooking hotdogs on a grill, so we did that on top of good quality booze. It was pretty grand, not even gonna lie.

 

On ‎11‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 5:32 PM, Mistr said:

Publicists?

 

On ‎11‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 9:58 PM, Treva said:

Publicists?

 

Publicists.

 

Okay, so it's a bit of a misnomer maybe, but a friend of mine - a writer/singer/budding martial artist - has decided to open up a business helping indie authors reach a wider audience. I'm helping her with that. I'm officially on staff for Con Security when we go, but in the meantime I'm also responsible for adding books to giveaways with the goal of increasing the mailing list. So we had a meeting about that on Friday.

 

But I digress.

 

*

 

Lawd. What day is it? Day whatever. I like that, and it's appropriate because whooooooooa what a week it's been.

 

Okay, so. Friday, the vicious cycle of late work leading to late release continued. I got to the gym and was confronted with the chance to either get great leg training done, or just good leg training with some mediocre ab training. Decided to whole-ass one thing instead of half-assing two, so I focused on getting my legwork done and threw some skipping rope on top of it. Just felt right, given the boxing and such I'm doing now. To be clear, I have no intention of going any further than that. I'm really honed in on getting my Simple back, and getting that shit to Sinister, and pouring out more energy in more work just doesn't make sense for that in the long term.

 

Cleaned up and showed up to the meeting at the house in what wound up being a happy accident. Nobody had told me that the meeting was going to be an e-meeting, so I was the only one who showed up at the house. And it is further pertinent to note that these were all women friends whom I think were attempting to make a Lady's Night of Friday after the meeting.

 

But they were so cool about me showing up! Instead of raising a fuss and kicking me out, they brought me in, got me about as drunk as they were, and we all just kinda bonded with each other in a way we hadn't in a long time. Two of them are doing Krav now, and their teacher has a Karate/Judo background and this makes me very happy. So we drank and I showed them some tips and tricks from karate and kali, and it just felt really good to talk to them and show them a part of myself that I don't usually get to show. After that, we ate pizza and drank and talked about capitalism vs communism, and then all cuddled together to watch Ep 1 of Outlander.

 

I was declared an Honorary Girl. Which is awesome; I feel like I'm very trusted now, and I treasure that. It's something I'mma have to keep working at and earning, but it's something I'm happy to do.

 

Saturday, went to the dojo and got the news that one of our program directors up and quit because the Kali instructor whupped him. It was our MMA instructor. Go figure.

 

Anyway, Sunday to today have all been good days, lots of training and writing and catching as catch can. I had a Dr.'s appointment with the guy I'm seeing via SteadyMD, and he's freaked about my thyroid function, so I'm off today to get some blood drawn for hypothyroidism. Fun times. It'll be interesting to see if this is the underlying thing that's been buggering most of my attempts to get my body to compose the way I want it to, not to mention all the other stuff. He's also a little freaked about some of the Lipoprotein stuff he saw on my bloodwork from back in May, and it's stuff that we can't really control with lifestyle short of getting LDL even further reduced. I might just wind up on a statin for that, which I'm more sanguine about given that this might just be something that I can't really do anything about.

 

I'm back on maintenance macros in the meantime between here and there, because there's no reason to punish the body whilst getting issues sorted out. And I'd really rather just focus on good training right now, given everything that's going on.

 

Tonight... we'll see what happens. Headstands at least. Kinda behind on the word count right now, so probably need to get that caught up.

[Kishi]

So, something about sitting down to do the words didn't feel right last night. I elected instead to go ahead and hit the mats. I was missed. I think only having Waifu to teach drives K-sensei nuts, which is understandable given what I grasp of the split in their motivations. Disappointing that more people haven't showed up though.

 

Came back, did my headstands, but with Karate fatigue they were harder and I missed my kick-up again. It's okay, though. I'm in no real rush.

 

I still got a little writing done, though, and my big rush is going to come this weekend when I do all the words for a few days.

 

I got signed up for the new gym that's going in near me. Managed to negotiate a one dollar opening fee even outside the promotion period and get them to put it on the credit card as opposed to drawing off my bank. Turns out, if you stand your ground and explain your issues, that's really about all the negotiation you need. Also, the guy was willing to be cool about it and it all worked out.

 

Anyway. Stab class tonight, and whatever training I can fit in in whatever gym I can find that's open. We've shifted our time back a little bit to account for travel between Raleigh and Durham, because someone always wrecks on Friday night and it throws us. So, catch as catch can. I've actually got enough food at home that I think I can make late-night training work as opposed to having to rush to get meat.

 

Onward!

[Urgan]

19 hours ago, Kishi said:

Anyway, Sunday to today have all been good days, lots of training and writing and catching as catch can. I had a Dr.'s appointment with the guy I'm seeing via SteadyMD, and he's freaked about my thyroid function, so I'm off today to get some blood drawn for hypothyroidism. Fun times. It'll be interesting to see if this is the underlying thing that's been buggering most of my attempts to get my body to compose the way I want it to, not to mention all the other stuff. He's also a little freaked about some of the Lipoprotein stuff he saw on my bloodwork from back in May, and it's stuff that we can't really control with lifestyle short of getting LDL even further reduced. I might just wind up on a statin for that, which I'm more sanguine about given that this might just be something that I can't really do anything about.

 

Hypothyroidism would not help anything in the body composition department, no. Knowing what statins can do to your brain from from reading and from observing my dad (statins go after cholesterol anywhere and everywhere, blood-brain barrier be damned, and your brain is 1/5th cholesterol.), I can't not comment on it. I'd suggest jumping to straight keto before a statin (and I don't even do keto myself, that should tell you something). The science isn't settled on that bit about lifestyle not being able modulate LDL, which FWIW is a symptom and not the disease since HDL and LDL both shuttle badly needed cholesterol into cells. If you've got LDL hanging out in the bloodstream not being able to be absorbed completely, there's several reasons this could be and those reasons tie back to gluten/grains. I'm not trying to give you medical advice per say, just challenging the idea that there is literally nothing that can be researched and/or tried. Your call 100%.

 

Literally just talking with mom about this today. Trying to get a woman whose whole family grew up on biscuits and grits to even CONSIDER the idea that saturated fat isn't evil and maybe bread isn't that awesome now vs wheat grown 50 years ago before genetic tinkering and Roundup has been an interesting exercise. But we may be making some headway.