Osu

[Kishi]

Phew, and here we are on Wednesday.

 

Nothing happened on Tuesday because I couldn't sleep the Monday Night leading into Tuesday morning and elected to call out of work. I don't really know why. I've heard that hypothyroidism can affect sleep, and I think it might have just acted up on me a little bit. So as a result, I skipped out of work and really everything else - no strength training, no martial arts, no nothing.

 

What I did do, though, was get my LinkedIn cleaned up and start applying for other jobs. Must admit, it feels kind of weird to go looking for work while having work to go to. Definite change of pace.

 

Anyway. Tonight is another rest night. This time I'm off to the cinema with one of the two friends as the other is going to be MIA due to a work function. I reckon it'll be fun, and it's an excuse to leave work early. No complaints about that.

[Urgan]

2 hours ago, Kishi said:

Must admit, it feels kind of weird to go looking for work while having work to go to. Definite change of pace.

 

It really is the way to go.

[Kishi]

So! Second rest night happened. I no longer know who I am.

 

I and some friends went off to the Alamo to see a screening of the Bad Boys trilogy. Because, I dunno, I guess I've given up a bit inside? Bad Boys 1 and 2 are pretty much as bad or worse than you've been told - it's peak Michael Bay, and while lots of video essays have taught me how to appreciate what I'm seeing on the screen, they're both pretty bad. 1 is the better between the two of them, as Bay's slavish devotion to his tropes really drives just about everything that happens in 2, and I think it's worse for that.

 

But the 3rd? Holy smokes, y'all, it's actually good. Michael Bay did not make this one and I don't know if I went into this with expectations lowered as badly as they were on account of the first couple or what, but this one exceeded them on every single count. It's very much a film in an older vein - like its predecessors it's in that Lethal Weapon buddy cop action lane of films that hasn't really been in style in a long time (21 Jump Street and its sequel kinda sorta count? But like, they're comedies first and action films second, and that prioritizes different dramatic concerns). As someone who grew up with those films, it was genuinely fascinating to me to see how the old 80s/early 90s sensibilities were updated for a 20s audience. I was particularly struck by certain sequences and set pieces that played up that sort of neon-synth aesthetic that's associated with crime stories set in Miami.

 

Mind you, it's not a perfect movie. It still retains some cornball elements from the first two films, and in particular I thought that Marcus' character was artificially hamstrung in service to some conventions. But it's Will freaking Smith and Martin freaking Lawrence and a host of other likeable people and they're charming as all hell, and on the whole I'm quite willing to forgive its faults.

 

So. You got some time and an itch, you should go see it.

 

Anyway, that was my whole evening, so I pretty much had time to get home, get food ready, and get to bed.

 

Tonight will be training of some kind. Coach is back in town from his travels, so I'm feeling drawn to go train with them as opposed to the MMA place. I dunno. If I get a sense he'll have bodies on the mat, I'll probably go to the other place.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Michael Bay films are so much better when Michael Bay isn't actually involved c.f. Bumblebee.

[Urgan]

1 hour ago, Kishi said:

Bad Boys 1 and 2 are pretty much as bad or worse than you've been told - it's peak Michael Bay, and while lots of video essays have taught me how to appreciate what I'm seeing on the screen, they're both pretty bad.

 

While I normally sympathize with mixed/unpleasant movie experiences, how could you miss the signs? They're essentially self-disclaiming and any harm done is on you. C'mon now.

[Jupiter]

2 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Michael Bay films are so much better when Michael Bay isn't actually involved c.f. Bumblebee.

 

Agreed. Loved Bumblebee.  

[Kishi]

19 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Michael Bay films are so much better when Michael Bay isn't actually involved c.f. Bumblebee.

 

16 hours ago, Jupiter said:

 

Agreed. Loved Bumblebee.  

 

You know, I'd heard it was really good! Apparently it was good enough for The Powers That Be to consider it a reboot of the Transformers cinematic universe?

 

18 hours ago, Urgan said:

 

While I normally sympathize with mixed/unpleasant movie experiences, how could you miss the signs? They're essentially self-disclaiming and any harm done is on you. C'mon now.

 

Look.

 

My dude was off to engage in some cinematic self-harm. I couldn't stop him, so I figured the next best thing to do was to cut along with him...?

 

...

 

this sounded way better in my head.

 

*

 

So the plan was the MMA place and the result was the BJJ place. I dunno if y'all remember my troublesome supervisor, but she basically got on my case about some cases and set some deadlines I had to meet. I met them, but it cost me a lot of time to do it and I wound up leaving work late as a result.

 

BJJ's never been a bad trade yet, though, although Coach wasn't back in town. We worked on a few different entries into X-Guard which I'll need to work on more, but that's kind of par for the course.

 

Rolled 100 on Q&D after. That took a while. ;;

 

Anyway, I dunno what's gonna happen tonight. Coach had said if he was back in town he'd hit up the open mat and there's been talk of us going out to drink after, so maybe that'll happen? Or maybe it won't if he isn't? Or maybe it won't if he is? Dunno how this one's gonna play out tonight.

[Kishi]

Friday down!

 

Friday took a turn for the interesting. We had a meeting at work with upper management, and long story short the problematic supervisor is getting shuffled off to another unit.  It looks like she's to be replaced by the first dude I worked with in that position, who I know is good. That was good-ass freaking news and made the rest of work pass pretty easy.

 

Open Mat happened afterward. Coach was still out, but our student who'd gone to Wilmington was back for the holiday weekend. She's apparently been rolling nonstop for the past couple of weeks, and damned if it didn't show. She's a big girl and she's got better at using her weight as opposed to being steamrolled. She's even got some agility now, and she showed me a thing or two.

 

Still subbed her, but it was way harder than it would have been two weeks ago. Good for her.

 

Came home and strength trained afterward. Decided to dispense with eggs and go full vegan on dinner. Decided to try this one on for size - rehydrated some textured veggie protein with mostly water and a bit of lemon juice. Minced 8g of garlic and a finger of turmeric. Fried the root veggies in 3 tbsp of avocado oil until they went aromatic, then chucked the TVP on top. Skilleted that for a bit, then got a bowl of cold rice and spooned this mix on top. Added some salsa and some sriracha, and y'all I'll be damned if this doesn't remind me of the old days when I used to fry up hamburger in the pan and dish it out on a bed of rice. Savory and warming with an underlying acidity because of the lemon juice. Just enough peach salsa to sweeten a touch without overpowering anything.

 

So, yeah, that was good.

 

Went in to the office for a bit today to catch up some cases and I'll be off to hang with friends tonight. Kind of jonesing to do some shadow work of some kind first, though...

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

1 hour ago, Kishi said:

the problematic supervisor is getting shuffled off to another unit

Sucks for that unit, I hope they can get rid of her fast. Super happy for you though.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

19 hours ago, Kishi said:

Savory and warming with an underlying acidity because of the lemon juice.

Sounds amazing!

 

[Kishi]

On 1/18/2020 at 4:23 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Sucks for that unit, I hope they can get rid of her fast. Super happy for you though.

 

As long as she doesn't come back here, I don't care that much. Sorry to say, but she's just worn me out. She took a naturally adversarial position and made it way worse for everyone than it really had to be. She had career civil servants - people who'd been in for tens of years - talking about quitting, to give you an idea for a point of reference of how bad she was.

 

15 hours ago, ReturnOfTheDad said:

Sounds amazing!

 

 

Thanks! The whole thing turned out to have a real comfort food vibe, which I didn't see coming.

 

*

 

Saturday and Sunday have happened.

 

Saturday wound up going to my friends, really. After I went to work I got messaged to hang out and decided to take up. We wound up bingeing on Rick and Morty episodes until like 02:00 in the morning. Worth it.

 

Came home, slept long, got up just in time to get out the door again to go hang with the Maine Friend. That wound up going all day and into the night; we finished up watching O Brother Where Art Thou? and eating banh mi made by her roommate.

 

So it's been a good weekend but not exactly what I'd call a productive one. I can live with it, though. Weekends like these are necessary and good.

 

Also, super glad that I have tomorrow off.

[WhiteGhost]

Getting caught up on a bunch of updates

 

Congratulations on the nickname, I like it.  Very cool 😎 

 

Also, happy to hear you will be losing your adversarial manager  

[Mistr]

Yay for getting a better supervisor at work!

 

That gives you the space to be picky in your job search and find something that is considerably better.

 

Spending a weekend with friends is the best way to relax. I hope that gave you the energy to tackle your other goals this week.

[Urgan]

5 minutes ago, Mistr said:

Yay for getting a better supervisor at work!

 

That gives you the space to be picky in your job search and find something that is considerably better.

 

This.

[Kishi]

18 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

Getting caught up on a bunch of updates

 

Congratulations on the nickname, I like it.  Very cool 😎 

 

Also, happy to hear you will be losing your adversarial manager  

 

Hey, man, thanks for coming by. And I'm glad you like my nickname.

 

I've still got that manager for this week and then she's apparently transferring to the other unit.

 

13 hours ago, Mistr said:

Yay for getting a better supervisor at work!

 

That gives you the space to be picky in your job search and find something that is considerably better.

 

Spending a weekend with friends is the best way to relax. I hope that gave you the energy to tackle your other goals this week.

 

13 hours ago, Urgan said:

 

This.

 

Yeah, it does. Even though she's gone, I know that I can't really rest. I don't feel like I want to. I want to get out of here if I can, but admittedly it'll be easier to do without that woman adding to the cognitive load of this work.

*

 

Having Monday off was pretty great, not gonna lie.

 

I didn't get around to doing all the things I wanted to do, but certainly some of them. I vacuumed, did a few loads of dishes, did my laundry. Hit up Q&D and this time rolled the Bodyweight edition, so vertical leaps instead of swings for me. Found a way to work some shadowboxing into it, so I can do that more now too. It feels right to go looking for this kind of activity right now; I'm not going to challenge it.

[Urgan]

9 hours ago, Kishi said:

Yeah, it does. Even though she's gone, I know that I can't really rest. I don't feel like I want to. I want to get out of here if I can, but admittedly it'll be easier to do without that woman adding to the cognitive load of this work.

 

Had a similar situation with an unnecessarily overbearing superior who was second in command at the store yet seemed to pick on my area when we were ridiculously understaffed (no direct supervisor much?). When he left it felt like I could breathe for the first time, but still treading water, you know? No substitute for a better job but boy howdy it sure does help.

[Kishi]

On ‎1‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 9:45 AM, Urgan said:

 

Had a similar situation with an unnecessarily overbearing superior who was second in command at the store yet seemed to pick on my area when we were ridiculously understaffed (no direct supervisor much?). When he left it felt like I could breathe for the first time, but still treading water, you know? No substitute for a better job but boy howdy it sure does help.

 

Yeah. She's been moving her stuff out today and yesterday and I wonder if it'd be too on the nose if I offered to help.

 

*

 

And what shall we say about Tuesday?

 

It was a good training day, really. I got out on time and managed to make it to the mats. We played with this really neat takedown that's based off of a reap-trip combo. I've concluded that anyone who things BJJ isn't judo is fooling themselves; it's admittedly comparatively heavy on leg picks and takedowns but so was judo back before the IOC got its hands on it. Anyway, the takedown then went into some X-guard stuff and I was all like  because we practice this ish over at the other place.

 

Anyway, it must have been my night or something. Maybe it was that I was the only white belt on the mats, or maybe it was just that I had energy and my sempai didn't, but I just felt in my bones that I was gonna tap one of these guys.

 

And I did.  Tapped my first blue belt as a white using one of my signature moves - arm bar from scarf hold.

 

It's regarded as a big step in BJJ growth; my mat fam at the other place was stoked when I told them, and I was proud for a minute but it was honestly kind of fleeting. I'm grinning about it as I type it out, because it's a hell of a thing to have done, but at the same time it's like, "Well, he was tired and his technique got sloppy; I wasn't tired and my technique did not." It feels... good. And not like some desperate validation like it would have a year ago.

 

Anyway, kickboxing was big on trying to mix together strikes and grappling, because the chief instructor is a cop and he's apparently been having to fight folk. It was really interesting to see how things fit together and it's actually a lot more fun to go looking for those puzzle pieces on top of the others.

 

Went home, got some nutrition in me, and hit up some strength work which went really well. Stretched afterward; hips are starting to open up a bit again which is good.

 

This time on Adventures with TVP I decided to do sriracha and a drizzle of molasses over top of it. It came out tasting like Chinese food. If I'd been able to put some chopped up scallions on that it would have been perfect.

 

Also, I'm not entirely sure, but I think I might have a soybean allergy, because I've had some issues with my nose just running like a faucet for a while now and I'm not 100% positive but I think I'm remembering that it started/got worse about the same time I started using soy stuff as a mainstay in my cooking; also, a lot of itching in my mouth/throat areas. I'll have to take some time away from it and explore other options, see if that improves.

 

I'm annoyed by that, and I actually kind of hope it turns out to be a false positive of some kind. I really liked what I was doing with this stuff.  Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that I can't find other ways to get those same flavors, and I can't help but wonder if what I'm missing is the TVP or if it's the concept of frying up my aromatics in oil. Maybe I can have the best of both worlds somehow? Someway. Oh well. First things first.

[Urgan]

8 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Yeah. She's been moving her stuff out today and yesterday and I wonder if it'd be too on the nose if I offered to help.

 

Keep yo hands out of the bear trap and take your win, man. Lol.

 

9 minutes ago, Kishi said:

It's regarded as a big step in BJJ growth; my mat fam at the other place was stoked when I told them, and I was proud for a minute but it was honestly kind of fleeting. I'm grinning about it as I type it out, because it's a hell of a thing to have done, but at the same time it's like, "Well, he was tired and his technique got sloppy; I wasn't tired and my technique did not." It feels... good. And not like some desperate validation like it would have a year ago.

 

Victory by any means necessary. 

 

10 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Also, I'm not entirely sure, but I think I might have a soybean allergy, because I've had some issues with my nose just running like a faucet for a while now and I'm not 100% positive but I think I'm remembering that it started/got worse about the same time I started using soy stuff as a mainstay in my cooking; also, a lot of itching in my mouth/throat areas. I'll have to take some time away from it and explore other options, see if that improves.

 

I'm annoyed by that, and I actually kind of hope it turns out to be a false positive of some kind. I really liked what I was doing with this stuff.  Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that I can't find other ways to get those same flavors, and I can't help but wonder if what I'm missing is the TVP or if it's the concept of frying up my aromatics in oil. Maybe I can have the best of both worlds somehow? Someway. Oh well. First things first.

 

Assuming you aren't reacting to weather doing weird things or having an illness, are you sure it's an allergy vs a sensitivity? That is, have you gone straight from no soy to all the soy? Other than for some reason not eating any meat, is there any other thing you've also changed? Sometimes dietary changes come in bundles. Bumping up pepper (bell peppers, chili peppers, that sort of thing) consumption for example. I know two people who can't eat 'em.

[Mistr]

Congratulations on tapping the blue belt! Definitely a sign of progress.

 

Sorry about the food issues. Those are a pain to track down, short of an elimination diet where you eat white rice with one thing on it for a couple days for each thing you're testing.

[Kishi]

1 hour ago, Urgan said:

Keep yo hands out of the bear trap and take your win, man. Lol.

 

Yeah, that's probably the right move.

 

1 hour ago, Urgan said:

Victory by any means necessary.

 

A tap is a tap.

 

1 hour ago, Urgan said:

Assuming you aren't reacting to weather doing weird things or having an illness, are you sure it's an allergy vs a sensitivity? That is, have you gone straight from no soy to all the soy? Other than for some reason not eating any meat, is there any other thing you've also changed? Sometimes dietary changes come in bundles. Bumping up pepper (bell peppers, chili peppers, that sort of thing) consumption for example. I know two people who can't eat 'em.

 

Well... honestly, no. Now that you've asked and I've stopped and thought about it, there's a lot of stuff that could be throwing up false positives, like high stress work environment, ongoing sickness of coworkers, and recent problems related to hydration which I know affect my sinuses. I didn't exactly go from no soy to all of it, but my initial testing on it proved favorable and I didn't have any issues that I was really aware of.

 

Also, I've been running up my sleep deficit again and my perceptions tend to go to pot when the fatigue sets in.

 

1 hour ago, Mistr said:

Congratulations on tapping the blue belt! Definitely a sign of progress.

 

Thanks! Feels good.

 

1 hour ago, Mistr said:

Sorry about the food issues. Those are a pain to track down, short of an elimination diet where you eat white rice with one thing on it for a couple days for each thing you're testing.

 

Yeah. I suppose I could go to an allergist or something but I'm not sure if that would turn anything up. Then again, that might not be a bad idea just to rule it out, and I do have the insurance now.

[Urgan]

24 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Well... honestly, no. Now that you've asked and I've stopped and thought about it, there's a lot of stuff that could be throwing up false positives, like high stress work environment, ongoing sickness of coworkers, and recent problems related to hydration which I know affect my sinuses. I didn't exactly go from no soy to all of it, but my initial testing on it proved favorable and I didn't have any issues that I was really aware of.

 

Also, I've been running up my sleep deficit again and my perceptions tend to go to pot when the fatigue sets in.

 

Controlling for water and rest and supplementing a B complex vitamin independent of a multivitamin (in the event you aren't already) would be good low risk steps before changing your diet more right away--unless your condition changes for the worse, of course. When I think of vegan diet problems, I think fatigue and brain fog. Hence the B complex. 

[Kishi]

1 hour ago, Urgan said:

 

Controlling for water and rest and supplementing a B complex vitamin independent of a multivitamin (in the event you aren't already) would be good low risk steps before changing your diet more right away--unless your condition changes for the worse, of course. When I think of vegan diet problems, I think fatigue and brain fog. Hence the B complex. 

 

Yup. My body has some issues processing B-vitamins but I got the good stuff and it's not a matter of concern. Most of my issues pertaining to fog or fatigue could be explained by sleep deficit building throughout the week, FWIW.

[WhiteGhost]

Congratulations on tapping out that blue! 

[Kishi]

So! Wednesday was a rest day, right on schedule. Started in on S4 of the Expanse with sci fi friends. It's every bit as compelling as it was before with new problems to solve on top. Good stuff.

 

Thing about rest days, though, is there's just not a lot to say about them, so I wound up getting back home, getting food ready for the next day, and going to bed.

 

Today's going to be a rest day of some kind too on account of giving blood. I reckon I'll still get out to one of the gyms to mindfully observe, as I've heard that's a way to engage in training even when your body can't. I have a feeling that I'm going to have to test that sooner or later, as I think if my shoulders don't get better I'm going to have to set an appointment with the orthopedist and get them sorted. Because it's stupid not to go to the doctor if I got the means to do so. Hopefully it's nothing that a round of dry needling and a steroid taper can't solve, but...

[Kishi]

So! Wound up going to the BJJ school as Coach was back in town and I got out of work late, as my supervisor chose to leave late and it negated my ability to play hooky.

 

Still showed up and took my notes, though. It wound up being a review of X-Guard and various entrances into it. I tried not to let myself get bogged down too much in details so much as I tried to capture the feel and flow of the class and maybe one or two pointers that stood out to me. Having the notebook with me to write down in definitely forced me to engage with the material as opposed to sitting back and watching. He later did some stuff with Scarf Hold that I was super glad I showed up for.

 

So, that was that. Got home, cooked some food, watched like crazy for any sign of an allergic reaction, and... nada. Slight itch of the throat which came of as incidental, but no sneezing or runny nose or any of the symptoms I'd come to expect. So, watch and wait as usual, I guess.

 

Open mat tonight! Coach is back on the road again, so I guess it'll be rolling with whoever shows and strength work to follow.