Naxius gets more INT.

[Ahyar Dreamspark]

Remember when I said I wanted to be a Wizard? Well, Wizards need high INT to perform well, so I better get cracking on that.

 

First and foremost: GRADUATE! FINISH THESIS SHIT BEFORE THIS FRIDAY! Yes, the 27th.

 

Now that that's out of the way, the daily goals will consist of:

 

1. Meditate for 5 minutes per day, EVERY FREAKING DAY.

 

2. Brush and floss EVERY FREAKING DAY.

 

3. Foam roll EVERY FREAKING DAY. I usually do this at the gym since it's a part of our warm-up routine, and there's more room at the gym than there is at home, so I'll leave this one out for this challenge.

 

3. Lumosity / brain games, or SOMETHING TO LEVEL UP MY INT. I'm thinking StarCraft also. I HAVE AN ARMY! I'll be focusing on the problem-solving category on Lumosity, and on games that will improve working memory. I also picked up a book called Smarter recently, and while I've only gotten through the first chapter so far, I'm totally looking forward to applying some of the concepts mentioned in the book. So far, it seems that working memory is a big thing.

 

I've also finished 10% Happier a little while ago, which is what prompted me to do the 5 minutes of daily meditation.

 

As for the life quests:

 

Life quest 1: THIS ISN'T EVEN MY FINAL FORM! Ie, the quest where all the transition things happen. I am definitely keeping this life quest (probably under text cuts), although I don't want to let it consume my entire challenge this time around. The worst of it has passed, and things related to life quest 1 should be smooth(er) sailing from now on.

 

Life quest 2: Declutter (cont'd). Especially clothes. I already started on this at the end of the last challenge.

 

I still need money, but that will be included in the decluttering life quest when I start to sell shit for money. Oh, and I had a job interview today and I might have a chance and fdfhgdfgahdfgahfdgas WAAAAANT. I have a new job and I start on the 9th and I'm so freaking pumped it's not even funny. IT WILL HAVE SANE HOURS. I WILL BE ABLE TO HAVE A NORMAL SLEEPING SCHEDULE. VERY SLEEP! MUCH REJOICE! WOW!

[Chanda]

Good luck... It does sound like a lot of things to keep track of daily, but if you make it all into a nice routine/ritual it may well work well! 

[petefeet]

I'm here kiddo!

[Ahyar Dreamspark]

So I had a job interview today right.

 

I HAVE A NEW JOB.

 

Or at least I will in two weeks.

 

A bit tipsy, because wine was required. Off to bed I go, because current job @ 5:30 AM tomorrow is still a thing.

[petefeet]

Glad to hear you got a new job, hope it's easier on the head!

[Nusuth]

Gratz on the job

[Teirin]

Hope the new job is awesome and pays well and does not start at 5:30 am

 

[Ahyar Dreamspark]

Ok, original post is updated, and challenge goals are set.

 

I gave my 2 week notice where I currently work. They're definitely sad to see me go, and I'm a bit sad to go as well because the people there (both management and staff) are great, but...I need more $$$ and more sane hours if I ever hope to 1) pay off student loans, and 2) fully recover from the depression BS. The chat with management went fairly well, and they were understanding.

 

The only downside of this is the future lack of employee rates at any conventions I go to. Eh, I'll just have to cart more people with me to split hotel costs. So, ehh...Petefeet you're going to HalCon right? XD

 

Daily goals (Feb 23):

Meditate: about to

Brush+floss: yes

Lumosity: no

 

^ Will fill these out as I do them. Need to shower and do thesis shit.

[petefeet]

 

The only downside of this is the future lack of employee rates at any conventions I go to. Eh, I'll just have to cart more people with me to split hotel costs. So, ehh...Petefeet you're going to HalCon right? XD

 

 

I'll be there kiddo!

[faille]

A job?  Woohoo!  Congratulations!!

 

[Ahyar Dreamspark]

I can't wait to start the new job, like dsgfsdhgsgdgd

 

Last night meditation went something like:

 

 

 

 

"Trying to meditate? It would be a shame if something were to distract you..."

 

I think I got between 2 and 5 minutes after kitty got tired of poking me in the face, though.

[Ahyar Dreamspark]

Yesterday's scores:

 

Meditate: yes

Brush + floss: yes

Lumosity: no

 

Was there a cat problem while I was meditating? Of course. Instead of letting her distract me, though, I decided to just do the meditation anyway, while being mindful of the cat. Things like where my hands are, what the cat's fur feels like, how the cat is moving, what the cat weighs, etc. If I give her attention this way, she doesn't poke me in the face.

 

Also, it's like I'm scared to get back on Lumosity because I constantly think I'll get a shitty score :\ This is ridiculous.

 

Oh, and I got a new hair cut last night.

 

Life Quest 1 progress:

 

I had the phone consultation with the clinic that will do the (top) surgery yesterday. The whole trip will probably cost around 10k, all things considered (with taxes, hotels, gas, food, extra medication, etc.) I have this money in a savings account already, and I've had it for years, but I still feel terribly nervous for even thinking of spending it. Having been brought up to save as much money as possible, I just find it incredibly difficult to spend money on anything, cosplay being the only exception. I wanted to throw my entire savings account contents at student loans, but...eh. It feels like throwing some of it at making myself feel better about life in general is also a good idea?

 

Anyway. The team of people I spoke with over the phone (nurse, surgeon, receptionist with all the financial info) answered all the questions I had, and I had a 2-page list of questions ;P Now the next step is to pick a date for the surgery, which might be a toughie since I'll be starting a new job and the new employer isn't quite in the loop yet when it comes to Life Quest 1. So the question is: do I want to mention this before or after the 3 month probation period is over? :\ I want to get it done ASAP, but I also don't want to run the risk of getting sacked prematurely due to potential discrimination. The people at the new workplace all seem really nice and easy-going, but one never knows. I probably won't do anything else with Life Quest 1 until I actually start working there and can get a feel for people's personalities and values.

 

Life Quest 2 progress: diddly squat. I have a box of clothes that I was going to take to one of my friends' house for them to try on, but O HEY THERE'S ANOTHER SNOW STORM.

[petefeet]

Yippie, another snow storm for us!!! CRAP!

 

My thoughts of Life Quest 1 & 2...

 

1. A couple years ago my advice might have been different, but the older I get the more I notice my priorities changing. Jobs are important, it's hard to get by without one, but if we live our life around our jobs and sacrifice our personal happiness for it, what are we living for? In all likelihood this will be the only change at life we have, so putting off the important things/decisions/people CAN increase our stress and unhappiness. The short version of the above being: "Take care of yourself first".

 

2. Hey at least you boxed up the clothes, 80% of any job is getting things organized first imo.

 

Oh, Congrat's on the haircut, though I'm not sure I remember what having one feels like...

[Ahyar Dreamspark]

Last night's goals:

 

Meditation: No. I thought I had done it, and I remember planning to do it, but...I don't actually remember doing it. Conclusion: I fell asleep while meditating :| I don't think that counts.

Brush + floss: Yes.

Lumosity: Yes, and it was actually kind of fun! Maybe if I don't look at my goddamned scores it'll be even more fun, because looking at scores (especially the "how you compare to everyone else" section) is akin to looking at the scale every day during a weight loss journey. My total score is in the 97th percentile, though ;P My only shitty category is problem-solving, where I'm only in the 79th percentile. All the other ones are 90+. Still, I WANT TO BE THE VERY BEST! ...And then be the very best again in a lower age group, and then another lower age group after that. Then I will play StarCraft a lot (that game requires a lot of attention and working memory resources), so that I can write "I have an army" on my resume.

 

In other news, I don't know if I'm battling a cold or flu or some shit, but I feel kind of off in various aspects. Like muscle soreness for no reason, shitty numbers at the gym, and random mini-coughs. I blew around 40$ on anti-virals (do they really work? Y/N?) last week or so and I've been taking them every time I feel the blahs, and it's made whatever almost-symptoms that were trying to show up go away every time so far. So now I wonder: am I carrying something and barely showing symptoms? Am I just imagining things? ARE MY LIFT NUMBERS GOING TO GO BACK UP ALREADY?

 

 

1. A couple years ago my advice might have been different, but the older I get the more I notice my priorities changing. Jobs are important, it's hard to get by without one, but if we live our life around our jobs and sacrifice our personal happiness for it, what are we living for? In all likelihood this will be the only change at life we have, so putting off the important things/decisions/people CAN increase our stress and unhappiness. The short version of the above being: "Take care of yourself first".

 

Oh, I agree entirely. I wouldn't put any job in front of my own personal life enjoyment at this point, but...I'm just wondering whether I should wait until the probation peroid (3 months) is over before I make any, ehh, changes. Having met the people at the new workplace only once, I can't really tell just yet how they'll react to the whole "obtw I'm really a guy" thing. They all seemed really great from what I've seen, and I'm assuming that they will be accepting, but I figure it's best to wait a few weeks before I bring anything up. It'll at least give me time to get to know them all better, anyway. If they're all ultra-conservative and un-accepting, I'll just do things after the probation period ;P

 

I don't see why it would be a big deal, though. I mean, I'll be a more productive worker in the end if mind = body. And considering that the 3-month probation period consists of part-time work, I can easily make up any days I might gave to miss due to medical procedures. If I can prove that I'm super-productive and awesome in the first few weeks, things should go fairly smoothly...I hope.

 

More Life Quest 1:

 

Egg shells are still being walked on at home when the Life Quest 1 topic gets brought up. It gets brought up a bit more often than it used to, though, which is...good? I can mostly have reasonable conversations with mom about it, even though there are sometimes disagreements...everything has remained civil so far, though. Dad and I had a brief chat about it a few days ago, right after the phone consultation with the clinic. I won't recap the whole conversation, but he's still incredibly un-thrilled about the idea x_x I reminded him that what I said about me paying for family counseling is still something I'm willing to do, but he said that he's not ready to talk about this yet. So there's been a tiny, tiny bit of progress? Other than that, family interacts with me the same way they used to.

 

tl;dr version: everything is going as smoothly as possible.

 

 

EDIT: THE NEW WASHER IS GOING TO BE HERE TODAY. We were supposed to get it yesterday but there was a snow storm. I can finally do laundry again. I never thought I'd be excited to do laundry ever.

[petefeet]

Last night's goals:

 

Lumosity: Yes, and it was actually kind of fun! Maybe if I don't look at my goddamned scores it'll be even more fun, because looking at scores (especially the "how you compare to everyone else" section) is akin to looking at the scale every day during a weight loss journey.

 

In my opinion, the only person you should be comparing yourself too is the person you were yesterday, nobody else matters.

 

In other news, I don't know if I'm battling a cold or flu or some shit, but I feel kind of off in various aspects. Like muscle soreness for no reason, shitty numbers at the gym, and random mini-coughs.

 

I battled it three and a half weeks kiddo, some nasty stuff going around this year and I'm not normally one to get sick. Make sure you get your rest and keep your fluids up. I won't worry too much about your gym numbers until you feel better.

 

Being roared at to go shovel the driveway. IT WAS ALL CLEAR LAST NIGHT. FUCK YOU, SNOWPLOW.

 

I hear you, we got another 4-6 inches yesterday. SO ready for winter to be over.

[faille]

If this is a job you are hoping to keep for the foreseeable future, I would suggest getting settled into the job before scheduling any extended time away from work.  This is more out of consideration for your coworkers, because it kinda sucks when someone joins and then immediately goes away.  It would also be one less stressor to not have to worry about whether you will keep your job.  Is transgender a protected class in Canada?  If so then it might not matter, but in terms of job security my personal concern would be the time off so soon after starting being used "against" you.  After you get a chance to feel your workplace out, you could talk to your boss about how you need to get a procedure done and ask how you would go about requesting time off for that.  If you're planning to use paid time off, you might have to wait until you have enough time saved up anyway.  

 

If you're worried about how they might react to the REASON for the surgery.... well I'm really not much help there!  Seems like you have the right idea to feel them out and see how open they are.  It's not really clear if you are concerned about their reaction to the physical changes or to the time off so soon after starting.  My assumption though is that you already dress/act/look like, well, you, so it might not even be a thing they care about or really notice.  If they're curious, you could share with them the details of what you are doing, but ultimately it's none of their business and there's no reason to make it a big deal in the work place.  Just continue to do you, work hard, and be awesome and hopefully everything will fall into place.

 

It is SO EXCELLENT though how everything is moving along.  I always assumed that elective surgeries were scheduled months in advance so really it's such a great problem to be able to go so quickly from telling the doctors "I want to do this" to having them say "Ok when do you want to schedule it"

 

And also.. if I said anything that was offensive or made assumptions or used wrong terminology I totally apologize in advance!

 

If you're still that excited about laundry, I can send you mine.

[petefeet]

If you're still that excited about laundry, I can send you mine.

 

I have dibs for next!

[Ahyar Dreamspark]

If this is a job you are hoping to keep for the foreseeable future, I would suggest getting settled into the job before scheduling any extended time away from work.  This is more out of consideration for your coworkers, because it kinda sucks when someone joins and then immediately goes away.  It would also be one less stressor to not have to worry about whether you will keep your job.  Is transgender a protected class in Canada?  If so then it might not matter, but in terms of job security my personal concern would be the time off so soon after starting being used "against" you.  After you get a chance to feel your workplace out, you could talk to your boss about how you need to get a procedure done and ask how you would go about requesting time off for that.  If you're planning to use paid time off, you might have to wait until you have enough time saved up anyway.  

 

If you're worried about how they might react to the REASON for the surgery.... well I'm really not much help there!  Seems like you have the right idea to feel them out and see how open they are.  It's not really clear if you are concerned about their reaction to the physical changes or to the time off so soon after starting.  My assumption though is that you already dress/act/look like, well, you, so it might not even be a thing they care about or really notice.  If they're curious, you could share with them the details of what you are doing, but ultimately it's none of their business and there's no reason to make it a big deal in the work place.  Just continue to do you, work hard, and be awesome and hopefully everything will fall into place.

 

Oh, it's definitely a keeper, especially if the boss's plan works out the way he plans it to. Much expansion, very laboratories, such raises, wow!

 

The kicker is that, for the 3 month probation period, I'm on a part-time schedule (M, W, F) so I figure that once I get a feel for how they'll react, it might be easier to take some days off in the last month of the probation period since I'll simply be able to say "Oh hey, I need these days off, so I'll work a full week the week before." I don't see why it wouldn't fly. I'm also not planning to use paid time off, so it's really not going to cost the company anything.

 

I'm more worried about the reason for the surgery being an issue, but if I can prove that I'm an asset to the company no matter what, maybe things will work more in my favor. I also wouldn't mind sharing details (to a certain extent) and answering questions if people are polite about things. Worst case scenario is that I'll end up lying and claiming that I took a genetic test, have incredibly high odds of developing breast cancer, and that they have to be removed ;P I'll have to come up with another lie after that to explain why I need to take a day to go to another city to get the results of the REAL genetic test back, but...eh. I'll figure something out.

 

I'm not even 100% sure if trans is a protected class in Canada. I think it is in the workplace (or just some workplaces?) but not when it comes to hate crimes, which is fucking bullshit.

 

 

It is SO EXCELLENT though how everything is moving along.  I always assumed that elective surgeries were scheduled months in advance so really it's such a great problem to be able to go so quickly from telling the doctors "I want to do this" to having them say "Ok when do you want to schedule it"

 

And also.. if I said anything that was offensive or made assumptions or used wrong terminology I totally apologize in advance!

 

Oh, it'll still be over a month I think this particular clinic has a 4 week minimum limit, which is still pretty quick. The only downside is that it's a private clinic, so scheduling goes a helluva lot faster, but you tend to pay through the nose. Still, "private" also comes along with extra accountability, less superbugs, and no mobs of sick people in the waiting room. I'll take one plz.

 

Also, nothing offensive :3

 

 

 

If you're still that excited about laundry, I can send you mine.

 

I have dibs for next!

 

Now now, let's not get excited! I'll probably be washing and drying until like 2 AM tonight lol.

 

Look at these beasts, though:

 

 

 

They have little flashing lights and everything, and they can hold SO MANY CLOTHES. They even play a little tune when they're done with your clothes!

 

I have yet to see if the dryer will eat socks, though.

 

 

 

EDIT: WHY DID IT BREAK MY QUOTES? D: It removed the names of people I quoted. Dafuq?

EDIT 2: Now they're back. I don't even know.

[petefeet]

Look at these beasts, though:  This might be a bit out of line, but after reading the first part of the post I read that as "breasts" and I wasn't sure if I should hit the "spoiler" button or not!

 

 

 

 

[Ahyar Dreamspark]

LOOOOLLLL, APPLIANCE PORNO?!?

[Ahyar Dreamspark]

Yesterday's goals:

 

Meditation: no

Brush + floss: no

Lumosity: no

 

Conclusion: once it's after a certain time and level of tiredness, I don't do fuck-all :\

 

At least I got (some) laundry done? And got adequate sleep! I've been getting adequate sleep for the last few days! It's not in my challenge goals, but it works for +INT also.

[petefeet]

I also have an issue getting stuff done when I'm tired. Pretty much the whole day is a write off when I'm coming off nights and trying to switch to days.

 

Glad you're getting a good nights sleep, that will do wonders for your general wellbeing.

[Sunmage]

How is our common goal going?

I'm done. People are correcting it and I will print it on Monday.

Did you already send your thesis in?

[Ahyar Dreamspark]

Still not sent in. Or touched. It's so freaking close to being done, but the few things that are left are just mind-numingly boring I should probably give myself a goal of re-drawing all my structures for today. It's easy, but...ugh.

 

Rest of goals yesterday: no.

 

Massive shit show of an argument at home? Oh yes Funny how shit like this will derail me for hours, if not days. Apparently all my problems in life are just because I'm not trying hard enough. In every aspect. Also because I'm being influenced by people. And getting a bio/chem degree was also a bad influence because of reasons I don't want to get into right now because all of this bullshit is too fresh in my mind. Counselors on campus who helped me through horrible times? Also a bad influence!

 

Aaaand it's gym time. BBL.

[petefeet]

Still not sent in. Or touched. It's so freaking close to being done, but the few things that are left are just mind-numingly boring I should probably give myself a goal of re-drawing all my structures for today. It's easy, but...ugh.  Just think of how good you will feel once you are done kiddo, I know you can do it!

 

Rest of goals yesterday: no. Not the end of the world, you can only improve.

 

Massive shit show of an argument at home? Oh yes Funny how shit like this will derail me for hours, if not days. Apparently all my problems in life are just because I'm not trying hard enough. In every aspect. Also because I'm being influenced by people. And getting a bio/chem degree was also a bad influence because of reasons I don't want to get into right now because all of this bullshit is too fresh in my mind. Counselors on campus who helped me through horrible times? Also a bad influence! I'm NOT taking an sides, but I expect/hope your folks are concerned because they care and want to see you happy and have a better life then they did. And if the shit show gets too bad, my couch and liquor cabinet are here for you kiddo. <g>

 

Aaaand it's gym time. BBL. Hope you worked off some frustration.